Are We "Giving the President a Blank Check" to Continue this War?

The Senate voted 94-1 Thursday, to allot billions of additional dollars to fund the Iraq war... Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold the only dissenter.

"I am disappointed that we are about to begin the 2008 fiscal year without having enacted any of the appropriations bills for that year. I am even more disappointed that we voted on a continuing resolution that provides tens of billions of dollars to continue the misguided war in Iraq but does not include any language to bring that war to a close. We need to keep the federal government operating and make sure our brave troops get all the equipment and supplies they need, but we should not be giving the President a blank check to continue a war that is hurting our national security." -- Senator Russ Feingold

The Bush administration asked Congress on Wednesday for $42 billion more next year for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an increase that would raise spending to more than $600 billion for Iraq alone.

The administration has also been given emergency authority to tap into a $70 billion "bridge fund" to provide additional money for this war.

3,801 American soldiers are dead, and more than 27,000 have been wounded, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians and government security forces that have lost their lives since we decided to invade Iraq.