WASHINGTON — Unable to force President Bush to speed up the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, House Democrats settled Tuesday for a less controversial measure to require more reports on plans to pull forces out.
But in an indication of the debate within Democratic ranks about how to challenge Bush's wartime leadership, three senior House members also threatened to hold up funding for the war and proposed a tax to pay for it.
Democratic Reps. David R. Obey of Wisconsin, John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania and Jim McGovern of Massachusetts -- who have helped lead the drive to end the war this year -- accused Bush of unfairly burdening military service members and their families with all the sacrifices for the war.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) quickly announced her opposition to Obey's plan, as Democratic leaders tried to focus on the legislation approved Tuesday.
The measure requiring reports on plans to remove troops from Iraq -- sponsored by Reps. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), John Tanner (D-Tenn.) and Phil English (R-Pa.) -- passed overwhelmingly, 377-46.
In an unusual moment of bipartisan consensus on Iraq-related legislation, 181 Republicans voted for the proposal, which House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) called "the rarest of creatures."
The measure appears unlikely to win much support among Democratic leaders in the Senate, who blasted a similar proposal by GOP senators during the summer.
Congressional Democrats have been pushing for nine months to force the president to bring troops home from Iraq. But Republicans in the Senate have effectively blocked every move to mandate a strategy change in Iraq.
With the demise of a series of Democratic proposals to set withdrawal timelines in recent months, House leaders embraced less confrontational war measures and a more moderate approach that could attract Republican support.
"We want to end the party sniping," said Abercrombie, who has been trying since July to get his measure to the floor for a vote and past antiwar lawmakers who complained that it did nothing to hasten the end of the 4 1/2 -year-old war.
"Republicans alone, Democrats alone, cannot bring this to an end," Abercrombie said. "It requires us all to work together."
With the blessing of leaders, including Pelosi, Abercrombie worked with a group of House Democrats on measures that could build bipartisan momentum for changing U.S. policy in Iraq without explicitly ordering a withdrawal.
