WASHINGTON — With the Senate poised today to vote to restrict President Bush's ability to conduct the war in Iraq, the White House and Congress are careening toward their biggest policy confrontation in more than a decade.
The last such head-on collision between the branches of government was in 1994, when a newly elected Republican Congress took aim at a Democratic president and eventually forced the shutdown of the federal government.
This time, a newly elected Democratic Congress is taking on a Republican president in an effort to force a drawdown in an increasingly unpopular war.
At the moment, neither side has much incentive to compromise, because the war is a signature issue for both. The president has wagered his legacy on the outcome of his decision to invade Iraq, and Democrats owe their control of Congress largely to voters angered by the war's deepening losses.
"I don't think either one can afford to back down, and that leads to the inevitable," said David Gergen, a veteran political strategist who has served as a top advisor to presidents of both parties.
The inevitable is a long-threatened presidential veto of a bill that would provide funds for the war but would lay out a timetable for withdrawal.
When it comes, Bush's veto is expected to leave each side accusing the other of perfidy: The president will accuse Congress of cutting off funds for troops in the middle of the battlefield, and Democratic leaders will accuse Bush of stubbornly ignoring the will of the American people, the true needs of the troops and the raw power of common sense.
Also likely is a scenario that drags the confrontation out for months, probably through the summer, with each side trying to fix blame for the stalemate on the other.
The two sides are drawing those battle lines now, and it was evident in their rhetoric Wednesday.
Speaking to the National Cattlemen's Beef Assn., Bush called on members of Congress to "stop making political statements and start providing vital funds for our troops."
"Some of them believe that by delaying funding for our troops, they can force me to accept restrictions on our commanders that I believe would make withdrawal and defeat more likely. That's not going to happen," Bush said.
"If Congress fails to pass a bill to fund our troops on the front lines, the American people will know who to hold responsible."
Blaming Bush
