WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday that he was backing legislation to cut off almost all money for the war in Iraq by next March, further escalating the Democratic confrontation with President Bush over the 4-year-old conflict.
The move comes after the Senate and House narrowly passed emergency war spending bills last month that set timelines for withdrawing U.S. troops. Neither measure proposed to cut funding for the war.
Reid, who will co-sponsor the bill with outspoken war critic Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.), has never backed legislation that would use congressional control of the budget to stop paying for the war.
He almost certainly will have a difficult time rounding up a majority of votes for a bill that could leave Democrats open to charges of abandoning the troops.
But it means that Reid, who has endorsed increasingly bold steps to end the war, will be able to steer the Senate into another debate that highlights Republican support for the president's unpopular war.
"Congress has a responsibility to end a war that is opposed by the American people and is undermining our national security," Feingold said. "By ending funding for the president's failed Iraq policy, our bill requires the president to safely redeploy our troops from Iraq."
Democrats say that even with funding cut off, troops in Iraq would continue to receive the equipment they needed.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino criticized Democrats for their escalating number of proposals on the war.
"There's just these shifting sands when it comes to the Democrats and their decisions," she said. "It's like a sandstorm."
Bush has promised to veto any legislation that puts limits on how his administration conducts the war. He has repeatedly said he will not sign the war funding bill if it includes a timeline for withdrawing troops.
Democratic leaders in the Senate and House are in negotiations to write a single compromise bill from their two spending measures, which set different timelines for withdrawing troops.
With slim majorities in both chambers, Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) stand little chance of overriding a presidential veto. On Monday, 154 House Republicans sent a letter to the White House that reiterated their pledge to stand with the president.
Vice President Dick Cheney continued the administration's attacks on Democrats on Capitol Hill, calling their attempt to force an end to the war pointless.
