No shift on Iraq war funding bill
WASHINGTON — Moving closer to a showdown over funding the war in Iraq, President Bush and congressional Democratic leaders emerged from a much-anticipated White House meeting Wednesday without progress toward ending an impasse over an emergency spending bill.
Despite Bush's veto threat, the Democrats continued to press ahead with legislation that would force the administration to begin withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq.
"We cannot give the president a blank check," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said after the meeting, which included House and Senate Republican leaders.
Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and other senior Democratic lawmakers are intensifying their efforts to unite congressional Democrats behind a single plan for bringing U.S. forces home.
Last month, the House and Senate passed different versions of the war funding bill. The House measure set an August 2008 deadline for withdrawing virtually all U.S. combat forces; the Senate legislation calls for withdrawal to begin within four months of the bill's enactment and sets a nonbinding "goal" for completing redeployment by March.
The weaker Senate version generated criticism from many war opponents, who have called for Congress to act more boldly to end the war. The initial challenge for congressional Democrats is to draft a compromise version that can pass both chambers.
Bush, meanwhile, has pledged to veto any legislation that includes withdrawal dates, which he has said would tie the hands of commanders on the ground and foolishly telegraph when American forces would stop fighting. Those on both sides of the dispute agree there is virtually no chance either the House or Senate could muster the two-thirds majorities required to override a veto.
GOP lawmakers have been trying to highlight divisions among Democrats about how hard to press the White House to bring troops home. There are signs, however, that even some of the staunchest antiwar Democrats in the House may agree to a nonbinding goal for withdrawing U.S. forces.
That would allow congressional Democrats to present a united front against the president.
"This war is a travesty and I want it over now," said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), a member of the House's influential Out of Iraq Caucus. "But I put my trust in [Pelosi]
