On the September 4 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, congressional correspondent Jessica Yellin aired Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) characterization of a recently released report on the Iraq war by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as “not equal” in significance to an upcoming report from the Bush administration because the administration's report “is written into law.” In fact, the GAO report is required by the same law as the president's report.

McConnell said: “There are a number of reports, but all reports are not equal. The report that is written into law are the reports by [Multi-National Forces-Iraq commander] General [David] Petraeus and [Iraq] Ambassador [Ryan] Crocker. Those reports will be before the Congress next week.”

But, as Media Matters for America noted, the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 (Section 1314(b)(2)) provides that "[t]he President shall submit" a report to Congress “not later than September 15, 2007,” assessing how much progress the Iraqi government has made in reaching 18 benchmarks, after “having consulted with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Commander, Multi-National Forces-Iraq, the United States Ambassador to Iraq, and the Commander of U.S. Central Command.” The bill also provides that the U.S. ambassador to Iraq and the commander of Multi-National Forces in Iraq will be available to testify “prior to the submission” of this September report.

Section 1314(e) of the same act requires the comptroller general -- the head of the GAO -- to submit a report no later than September 1, 2007, “setting forth ... the status of the achievement of the benchmarks specified” in the law. The GAO report says in its "Highlights" section: “Public Law 110-28 requires GAO to report to Congress by September 1, 2007, on whether or not the government of Iraq has met 18 benchmarks contained in the Act, and the status of the achievement of these benchmarks.”

The International Herald Tribune noted on September 4: “Lawmakers had ordered the GAO report in hopes of obtaining a perspective against which to gauge the report due by Sept. 15 from the ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and the military commander there, General David Petraeus.” Section 1314(e) also appropriates money for “an independent, private sector entity, which operates as a 501(c)(3), with recognized credentials and expertise in military affairs” to issue a report on the Iraqi Security Forces.

McConnell voted for the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007.

Yellin and host Wolf Blitzer noted that Congress will receive both the president's report and the report on the Iraqi Security Forces in addition to the GAO report, but not that all three reports are required by law. Blitzer said: “This is one report. There are a bunch of other reports coming out in the next few days and next week.” Yellin replied: “It's nonstop reports up here on the Hill. [Iraqi Security Forces Independent Assessment Commission] Gen. [James] Jones releases one on the Iraqi security forces on Thursday, and next week it's Petraeus and Crocker on Monday and Tuesday.”

From the 4 p.m. ET hour of the September 4 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

YELLIN: Well, Wolf, Democrats are calling this report damning. There's that list of failures, and they point out this report is dramatically more negative than a White House report on Iraq released earlier this summer. And Democrats are questioning whether the Bush administration is giving Congress misleading information about Iraq.

[begin video clip]

YELLIN: The report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office finds Iraq has failed to meet at least seven different benchmarks, each of which got a rosier assessment from the White House earlier this summer.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA): These discrepancies, nevertheless, raise questions about the information that we're receiving from other sources about the war in Iraq.

YELLIN: Stinging words coming just a week before the White House releases its make-or-break report of Iraq General David Petraeus.

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID (D-NV): The president can't hide behind the generals. This is his war. He's responsible for the mistakes and the missteps that leave our troops mired in a civil war with no end in sight.

YELLIN: In testimony, the head of the GAO says they found...

DAVID WALKER (GAO comptroller general): Clearly, the least progress has been made on the political front. I think you have to say it's dysfunctional. The government is dysfunctional.

YELLIN: To Democrats, this proves the surge has failed since the strategy was intended to give the Iraqi government breathing room to achieve political progress. But Republicans are withholding judgment today. They say they have yet to receive the one report that matters most.

McCONNELL: There are a number of reports, but all reports are not equal. The report that is written into law are the reports by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. Those reports will be before the Congress next week.

[end video clip]

YELLIN: Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made news this morning, Wolf, when he also said that the U.S. should be prepared to have long-term troop deployments in the Middle East to protect the U.S. from the twin threats of Iran and Al Qaeda -- Wolf.

BLITZER: This is one report. There are a bunch of other reports coming out in the next few days and next week. So people are getting -- I guess anticipating a lot more information about the progress in Iraq.

YELLIN: It's nonstop reports up here on the Hill. General Jones releases one on the Iraqi security forces on Thursday, and next week it's Petraeus and Crocker on Monday and Tuesday.