WASHINGTON — As House Democrats edged closer Thursday to securing the votes to pass a war funding bill that would compel the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned that the current troop buildup would be jeopardized by any delays in enacting such funding.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and her lieutenants appeared to make more progress in their drive to reach a majority as more of the war's staunchest opponents lined up behind the measure.
A Pelosi spokesman said President Bush would be to blame for any effect that delays in passing a bill would have on the military, saying the president had failed to adequately fund the war.
But the warning from Gates, who has largely stayed out of the political fray in his first three months at the Pentagon, threatened to upset the carefully crafted coalition of moderate and liberal Democrats that party leaders have been laboring to assemble behind the $124-billion measure.
The House is scheduled to vote today.
In his assessment -- delivered during a morning meeting with lawmakers and then repeated to reporters -- Gates said that failure to pass the Defense Department funding request within the next three weeks might force the Army to slow the training of units deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan.
He also cautioned that further delay into mid-May could force the Army to extend the deployments of troops in war zones beyond their usual one-year tours, because replacement forces would not have enough money to complete their pre-combat training.
Gates declined to tell the Democrats what they should do, saying only, "I think it's my responsibility to let everybody involved in the debate know the impact of the timing of the decisions."
But the political brinksmanship of his remarks was clear.
One military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the secretary's motivations, acknowledged that there was some politicking involved in the warning, noting that it had come the day before the House was scheduled to vote.
As the House launched debate on its bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its own version, which calls for the withdrawal of combat troops to begin within four months of the measure's enactment and end by March 31, 2008.
