WASHINGTON — Forty-four Republican senators backed a plan Wednesday to tie continued economic aid to Iraq to the performance of its government, the strongest demonstration yet of GOP willingness to impose limits on President Bush's management of the war.
And in an indication of growing Democratic resolve to force an end to the war, a majority of Democratic senators supported a second measure to cut off funding for most combat operations in Iraq by the end of March.
Both proposals failed to win the support needed to proceed to a debate and a vote.
The plan to link aid to benchmarks that the Iraqi government would have to meet -- sponsored by Republican Sens. John W. Warner of Virginia and Susan Collins of Maine -- drew the votes of 52 senators, short of the 60 needed to begin debate.
Only 29 voted to move forward with debate of the funding cutoff plan sponsored by Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
Despite the failure of the measures -- amendments to an unrelated bill to fund water projects -- the votes illustrated Congress' dramatic response to public dismay with the war.
"It is clear that change is in the air," Assistant Senate Majority Leader Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said after the votes. "Our resolutions have not passed, but they will pass. I don't know how many more bodies will come home, how many more injured soldiers there will be. But a growing tension in this country over this war will lead us to the right conclusion."
The Feingold-Reid plan introduced last month would restrict funding at the end of March 2008 for all but a limited range of military operations, including protecting U.S. personnel, training Iraqi forces and conducting limited counter-terrorism operations.
Under the Warner plan, the president would have to certify in July that the Iraqi government is making progress on a series of goals, such as disarming militias and passing legislation to equitably distribute oil revenue. Without such a certification, economic aid to Iraq would be suspended.
But Warner, who has repeatedly deferred to presidential authority as the Iraq debate has intensified, included a provision that would allow the president to waive certification.
Although the measure includes this escape clause, the vote Wednesday marked the first time a majority of Republicans backed any condition on Bush's management of the 4-year-old war.
