Afghanistan, detention issue divide lawmakers

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Coalitions of House Democrats and tea partyers pushed to speed up President Barack Obama's withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and end the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects, even American citizens, captured on U.S. soil.

The issues proved highly divisive for both parties Thursday as the House considered a $642 billion defense budget for next year. Debate on more than 140 amendments to the bill repeatedly centered on the detention issue.

"The president right now has the authority to go outside and lock somebody up indefinitely," said Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee. "It's an extraordinary amount of power to give the executive branch."

Smith and several tea party Republicans back an amendment that would bar indefinite detention without charge or trial of suspected terrorists and roll back the military custody requirement. Last year, Congress passed and Obama reluctantly signed a defense bill that included the provision allowing indefinite detention.

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, argued that the amendment would give terrorist suspects full constitutional rights.

"As soon as a member of al-Qaida sets foot on U.S. soil, they hear you have the right to remain silent," he said during debate.

Smith pointed out that the Constitution grants all persons due process. "You're beef is with James Madison," Smith said.

On Tuesday, a federal judge in New York struck down as unconstitutional the portion of the defense law that gives the government broad powers to regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists.

Public support for the Afghanistan war has deteriorated. An Associated Press-GfK poll released last week showed that backing for the war has hit a new low and is on par with support for the Vietnam War in the early 1970s. Only 27 percent of Americans say they back the war effort, and 66 percent oppose it, according to the survey.

The House bill suggests that the president should maintain a force of 68,000 in Afghanistan through 2014. The House was weighing an amendment to limit money for the war to the "safe and orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops and military contractors from Afghanistan."

The current level of troops in the country is 88,000.

Clamoring for fiscal austerity, House Republicans backed deficit-cutting legislation last summer that calls for a $487 billion cut in projected defense spending over 10 years. They abandoned that plan in March, embracing a budget that adds billions of dollars for the military while slashing funds for safety-net programs for the poor.

The $642 billion spending blueprint ? $8 billion more than last year's agreement ? provides funds for aircraft, ships, weapons, the war in Afghanistan and a 1.7 percent pay raise for military personnel. The House Armed Services Committee, in crafting its version of the budget, snubbed the Pentagon and military leaders on a range of issues, rejecting calls for another round of domestic base closings and increases in monthly health care premiums for working-age military retirees.

Health care costs have skyrocketed for the military, rising from around $19 billion in 2001 to more than $53 billion in recent years. The Pentagon has estimated that the premium hike ? ranging from $35 to $140 per month ? would save the military more than $12 billion over 10 years. But one of the most powerful constituencies, the network of veterans groups and retired generals, has lobbied lawmakers to prevent any increase.

The House's action on the budget has divided Republicans.

In a statement Thursday, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said that if the House is serious about cutting the deficit, it can show its commitment by not passing "a final highway bill, postal bill or any other bill that would violate the Budget Control Act" ? last summer's deficit-cutting pact between President Barack Obama and Congress.

Republicans used the House bill to make an election-year argument that they're stronger on defense than Obama.

They backed construction of a missile defense site on the East Coast that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says is unnecessary, saved aircraft and ships slated for cost-saving retirement, and slowed planned reductions in the Army and Marine Corps. They added millions of dollars for nuclear weapons and restricted the president's ability to reduce the nuclear stockpile under a treaty with Russia that the Senate ratified in December 2010.

Still fighting Obama's long-settled decision to allow gays to serve openly in the military, the bill would bar same-sex marriages on military installations.

"Welcome to the world of manufactured crisis," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters in criticizing the provision as unnecessary.

The political challenges embodied in the bill are unlikely to survive. The White House has threatened to veto the legislation, citing a long list of objections. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has slammed the bill and lawmakers for protecting their pet projects. The Democratic-controlled Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to jettison many of the provisions in its version of the budget. The committee meets next week to write its bill.

The GOP effort to make Obama's national security record an issue in the campaign has gotten little traction. Opinion surveys show Americans give the president high marks on defense after the killing of Osama bin Laden, repeated drone attacks against suspected terrorists and a weakened al-Qaida, and an end to the Iraq war.

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