WASHINGTON — House Republicans, repeating a legislative tactic they used in November, sought to put Democrats on the spot Friday with a proposal opposing timetables for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
Although the debate was more civil than the one last month, when lawmakers bitterly squabbled over and soundly defeated a resolution calling for an immediate pullout, Friday's measure drew more Democratic opposition.
The proposal, declaring that setting an "artificial timetable" for withdrawing the U.S. military from Iraq would be "inconsistent with achieving victory," was approved 279 to 109.
Voting no were 108 Democrats and one independent. Supporting the resolution were 220 Republicans and 59 Democrats. Two Republicans and 32 Democrats voted "present."
The vote illustrated the growing rift between the parties over whether the U.S. mission in Iraq would be best served by deadlines for withdrawal, as some Democrats have suggested.
Democrats assailed the measure as a political stunt, accusing Republicans of passing up an opportunity to send a unified message congratulating Iraqis for their parliamentary elections this week and thanking U.S. troops for their efforts.
Instead, said Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Burlingame), the GOP resolution was "deliberately calculated to be divisive."
Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) said the measure was needed to make it clear that "an arbitrary timeline for withdrawal cannot be dictated from Washington. We need to leave that up to the experts who are on the ground and in the fight."
Last month, Republicans brought to the House floor a resolution, intended to fail, that called for an immediate withdrawal of the U.S. military.
That measure -- the GOP response to a call by Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), one of the House's most respected military hawks -- sparked a bitter debate before it was overwhelmingly defeated, 403 to 3.
On Friday, Murtha opposed the new resolution, saying in a letter to his Democratic colleagues it "means that our troops could be [in Iraq] for 10 or 15 years."
He also said, "We have to redeploy on a time schedule and give the Iraqis incentive to take over this war themselves."
Rep. Candice S. Miller (R-Mich.), in supporting the resolution, said, "Now is not the time to wave the white flag."
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) responded: "Nobody's talking about waving the white flag. What we're talking about is trying to figure out a way to make a bad situation less bad."
