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McConnell: Trump's Drawdown of U.S. Troops in Afghanistan, Iraq a 'Mistake'
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November 17, 2020
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0:51Now PlayingSen. Mitch McConnell, joined by other GOP Senate leaders, continues to express opposition to President Donald Trump drawdown plans in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"I think it's extremely important here in the next couple of months not to have any earthshaking changes with regard to defense and foreign policy," McConnell said on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
The Pentagon announced Tuesday afternoon that President Donald Trump intends to cut a significant number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and a smaller number in Iraq in the final days of his presidency.
The plan would run counter to military commanders' advice over the past year, while still falling short of Trump's much-touted goal to end America's long wars.
"Particularly in Afghanistan, if we want to continue to move forward with a peace discussion with the Taliban, I think we have to have a presence," said Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri.
The withdrawal plan will cut the number of troops in Afghanistan from more than 4,500 to 2,500, and in Iraq from about 3,000 to 2,500.
GOP Senate leaders continue to push for a smaller COVID relief package than the one already passed by the Democratic-led House of Representatives.
"I'm open to a targeted bill, roughly of the amount that we recommended, a half a trillion dollars, which is not nothing, narrowly targeted at schools, at health care providers, at PPP," McConnell said, using the acronym that refers to the federal paycheck protection program.
"And, of course, liability reform to keep America from being engaged in an epidemic of lawsuits on the heels of the pandemic," McConnell said.
"The House Democrats, and the Democrats here in the Senate, for that matter, seem insistent on clinging to this multitrillion dollar liberal wish list that they've put out there, even as their majority, the Democrat majority in the House, continues to shrink by the day," said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota.
Congressional Democrats and Republicans generally say a new stimulus bill is needed, but they disagree on the scope of it.
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