WASHINGTON — Now comes the hard part.
Congressional Democrats quickly and easily united behind a nonbinding resolution denouncing President Bush's plan to send more U.S. troops to Iraq. But after the measure's expected approval in the House today, party leaders will confront more divisive questions: how to force a determined president to back down from his plan, and whether to push for a complete withdrawal.
Senior House Democrats are crafting a strategy to block a troop escalation in Iraq without exposing the party to charges that it is undermining the military.
But antiwar advocates would rather set a firm target date for withdrawing all troops. More moderate Democrats, especially those in Republican-leaning districts, are worried that direct steps to limit Bush's war powers are fraught with political peril.
In the Senate, meanwhile, a more immediate obstacle looms.
Facing procedural hurdles set up by Republicans, Democrats are still struggling to pass a nonbinding resolution that mirrors the House measure. On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he would hold an unusual Saturday session to bring the issue to a head, although it remained unclear whether he had enough votes to break the deadlock that stalled action earlier this month.
Regardless of the outcome of the Senate tiff, Capitol Hill's focus in the weeks ahead will turn to Bush's request for additional funding for the war. As they consider it, Democrats will be exploring just how far they can go in challenging him.
One thing is clear: Democratic leaders will be under pressure from the party's rank and file -- especially activists who will play a major role in choosing their 2008 presidential candidate -- to go beyond symbolic denunciations of Bush's policy.
"Congress has no choice but to do some binding action after the nonbinding resolution, or the antiwar community will go berserk if they are perceived as hesitating," said Tom Matzzie, Washington director of Moveon.org, the liberal online group.
Today's House vote will stand as Congress' first formal repudiation of Bush's Iraq policy, a rare wartime rebuke for a commander in chief. Support for the measure demonstrates that Democratic lawmakers who just a year ago were wary of criticizing Bush over Iraq have been emboldened by the GOP's shellacking in the November election.
