A Critical Choice - The Fate of the Republican Party Hangs on Bush's Veto

It has been 95 days since the Democratic Party took over control of the United States Congress. Though Pelosi's "First Hundred Hours" agenda met with success, the term of the 110th Congress has been bogged down in hearings and investigations of White House corruption including the so-called "Attorneygate" scandal, which will see pivotal testimony from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in the coming weeks. Despite Democratic control of both houses, Congress has failed to pass any major legislation since February 15, marking 53 days of, if not legislative inactivity, than at least legislative lethargy.

A mounting showdown with the Executive Branch promises to change that, however, and pits the Presidency against a Congressional majority insufficient to override a veto. At a legal impasse, the Congressional Democrats and a beleaguered Bush now turn to the American people in what will likely prove to be the main event of the 2007 legislative term.

The topic of contention is the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill which authorizes the continued funding of the Iraq War. Democrats in the House and Senate have affixed deadlines and withdrawaltime-lines to the funding bills, calling for the beginnings of US pullout from Iraq within a specified time-frame . President Bush has threatened to veto the measures, stating in no uncertain terms that he will not approve a bill which dictates atime-line for withdrawal.

The White House and Congressional Democrats are both moving to portray the other as denying the troops in Iraq funding. The White House appears to have been first out of the gate on the matter, and its depiction of the Congress as "unable to pass a war funding bill" has been echoed by the Main Stream Media including on Easter Sunday's "Meet the Press." Democrats have been less successful in getting their soundbites out. Despite the undeniable reality that the Democrats have passed appropriations measures and the inevitable arrival of those measures on the President's desk, the prevailing media message seems to be that it is the Congress, not Bush, that is responsible for the inevitable veto.

Score one for the Bush Administration.