Amendments co-sponsored by Vermont's Rep. Peter Welch that were intended to bring about a speedier end to the war in Afghanistan were rejected by the House on Thursday following a Wednesday night debate.
But in a news release, Welch said the votes show more representatives are tiring of the war.
One of the amendments -- which garnered a bit of national press coverage -- "would have required the Secretary of Defense to, within 60 days of enactment, present a plan to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan except those engaged in counter-terrorism activities," according to the news release.
The amendment, coauthored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), failed by a vote of 123 to 294 and had the support of 18 Republicans. A similar measure earlier this year received 93 favorable votes with only eight of those cast by Republicans.
Another amendment went down 204 to 215, which also was an improvement compared to an earlier vote.
The amendments were not expected to pass, and Welch accentuated the positive.
“While we did not prevail today, I am heartened that the votes reveal bipartisan opposition to this ten-year-old war is growing,” Welch said in a statement. “It is becoming clearer every day that it makes no sense for American taxpayers to fund a nation-building policy in a hopelessly corrupt Afghanistan, especially given our fiscal challenges at home. General Petraeus tells us there are less than 100 al Qaeda members in Afghanistan. A more effective approach to the serious threat of terrorism is a targeted, worldwide counter-terrorism strategy similar to the intelligence and special operations mission that located and killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan earlier this month.”
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