WASHINGTON – The House on Wednesday night brushed aside weeks of angry White House rhetoric and veto threats to narrowly approve a $124 billion war spending bill that requires troop withdrawal from Iraq to begin by Oct. 1 with a goal of ending U.S. combat operations there by next March.
The Senate is expected to follow the House’s 218-208 vote with final passage today. Democrats hope to send the measure to the White House on Monday, almost exactly four years after Bush declared an end to major combat in a speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Republicans stayed largely united, but even House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., acknowledged a growing political strain as the bad news from Baghdad continues unabated.
“We need to get some better results from Iraq, both politically, economically and militarily in foreseeable future,” Blunt said.
Earlier Wednesday, the administration dispatched Gen. David Petraeus, the commanding general in Iraq, to plead for patience as he briefed House and Senate lawmakers on efforts to quell sectarian and Islamic fundamentalist violence with the influx of more than 28,000 additional troops.
Beneath Wednesday’s political debate, halting talks have already begun on a second funding bill for the war, on the assumption Bush will veto the first.
Other Democrats suggested the most contentious items in Wednesday’s bill, such as binding troop withdrawal dates, would probably migrate to a defense policy bill that will be on the House floor next month or to the annual Pentagon budget bill, due up in June.
Wednesday’s legislation sets strict requirements for resting, training and equipping troops but would grant the president the authority to waive those restrictions, as long as he publicly justifies the waivers.
The bill also establishes benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet: create a program to disarm militias, reduce sectarian violence, ease rules that purged the government of all former Baath Party members and approve a law on sharing oil revenue.
Unless the Bush administration determines by July 1 that those benchmarks are being met, troops would begin coming home immediately, with a goal of completing those withdrawals by the end of the year.
If benchmarks are being met, troops would begin coming home no later than Oct. 1, with a goal of completing the troop pullout by April 1, 2008.
After combat forces are withdrawn, some troops could remain to protect U.S. facilities and diplomats, pursue terrorist organizations, and train and equip Iraqi security forces.
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