Bid to end Afghan war funding hits GOP roadblock Amid spending battle, Oakland's Lee unable to sway GOP legislators

U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D - 9th District, Oakland) speaks at a Martin Luther King Day celebration on Monday, Jan. 17, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. Ran on: 02-07-2011 Rep. Barbara Lee wants to see defense spending restrained and the military's global mission re-examined. Ran on: 02-07-2011 Rep. Barbara Lee wants to see defense spending restrained and the military's global mission re-examined. Ran on: 02-07-2011 Rep. Barbara Lee wants to see defense spending restrained and the military's global mission re-examined. Ran on: 02-22-2011 Barbara Lee Ran on: 02-22-2011 Barbara Lee Ran on: 07-25-2011 Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland. less U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D - 9th District, Oakland) speaks at a Martin Luther King Day celebration on Monday, Jan. 17, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. Ran on: 02-07-2011 Rep. Barbara Lee wants to see defense ... more Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Bid to end Afghan war funding hits GOP roadblock 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Amid a battle in the House over how to cut billions in spending, liberal Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland joined conservative Republicans Ron Paul of Texas and Walter Jones of North Carolina last week on a bill that could save more than $100 billion a year by ending the war in Afghanistan.

But they confront an even stranger coalition that opposes a quick pullout: President Obama and most of the 87 newly elected House Republicans, many of whom are backed by the Tea Party.

A test vote on Jones' amendment to a House bill to fund the government for the rest of the year would have stripped $400 million from a new fund to build Afghanistan's infrastructure. It failed, with support from 36 Republicans, including just a handful of freshmen.

At the same time, most Republicans backed amendments to slash a wide array of domestic programs, including U.S. infrastructure such as water, air traffic and rail projects. The war will cost an estimated $116 billion this year, nearly twice what Republicans hope to save through deep cuts in domestic programs.

Most Republicans, including newcomers who joined the successful effort to eliminate $450 million for a second engine for the F-35 fighter plane, voted to support the Afghan infrastructure fund.

"It's possible - possible - that there are 10 to 20 (new GOP members) who we believe could be with us, with the right individual talking to them, who could possibly join us in bringing troops out," Jones said. "The older members are locked in with the leadership on the Republican side and want to keep the troops over there, so there's not much hope there. But we do have some potential with 10 to 20 Tea Party types, and we'll be working with those people."

Paul was more pessimistic. "We don't have any money to do infrastructure in this country," Paul said. "That vote wasn't very encouraging. We have a long way to go."

Public increasingly opposed

Since Obama escalated the war in 2009, bringing troop levels to more than 100,000, public opinion has increasingly soured, according to many polls. A recent CBS News poll showed 72 percent of the public favors a faster withdrawal; while a Gallup/USA Today poll this month showed majorities of Democrats, independents and Republicans favoring a speedier pullout.

The war in Afghanistan, now in its 10th year, is longer than any war in U.S. history. Obama has promised to start withdrawing troops this summer, but Pentagon officials have warned against moving too fast.

Lee was the only member of the House who voted against the authorization of the use of force in Afghanistan on Sept. 14, 2001 - three days after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

"If you had told the American people we would still be in Afghanistan a decade later, perhaps there would have been a more thorough debate of that fateful vote less than a week after 9/11," Lee said. "It was a very difficult decision, but I voted against it, because I knew it would be a blank check to wage war anytime, anywhere, against any country, organization or individual. It was very open-ended. And my worst fears have really haunted me going back to that day."

The GOP, once all but united on higher military spending and continuation of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has begun to splinter between its neoconservative wing, which dominated during the George W. Bush administration, and the small-government, libertarian wing that has strong roots in the Tea Party movement.

Several leaders influential with the Tea Party, including former House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas and anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, have urged Republicans to scrutinize military spending and rethink support of the wars.

"There is not a grand consensus yet in the countryside" to withdraw, Paul said. "People are too complacent and too willing to go along to get along and just let this continue."

'Interventionist attitude'

Paul blamed neoconservatives for generating the policy justifications for both conflicts, which he described as "a desire to remake the Middle East" and an "interventionist attitude that we have a moral obligation to promote ourselves and our so-called goodness around the world."

He said he shared the idea of "American exceptionalism" embraced by many in the Tea Party, but said it should be expressed by "example and persuasion" rather than trying to plant democracy by military force in other countries.

In last week's marathon House debate, efforts by Democrats to kill the V-22 Osprey aircraft, plagued by cost overruns, was easily defeated despite the vote to kill the F-35's second engine.

Jones, whose district includes the huge Camp Lejeune Marine base, said troops come back from the front frustrated, and he warned that the conflict "is breaking the military." He said he has been consulting with a retired high-ranking U.S. general, whom he would not name, who told him that it makes no difference whether the United States stays in Afghanistan four years or 40 years.

"We are trying to take a country that's never had a national government and make them a democracy," Jones said. "It just doesn't work."