WASHINGTON – The Senate on Wednesday soundly rejected a symbolic bid to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq within a year, underscoring lingering divisions within the Democratic Party over how hard to push President Bush to end the war.
Despite heavy public opposition to the conflict, 19 Democrats broke with their party’s antiwar leadership to oppose cutting off funding by March 31, 2008, joining 47 Republicans and one independent on the 67-29 vote. The Senate’s four Democratic presidential candidates were among the supporters of the measure, offered as an amendment to an unrelated bill, as House and Senate leaders prepared to negotiate a spending package that would fund the war through September.
In the nearly four months that Congress has debated the U.S. military role in Iraq, both parties have demonstrated remarkable unity. Wednesday’s vote represented an unusual departure for Democrats, who otherwise overwhelmingly agree that Congress must place legislative restrictions on Bush’s war authority.
But unlike in the House, where a large majority of Democrats would push Bush much farther than he wants to go, the more moderate Senate includes many Democrats from the South and Midwest who remain unwilling to dictate specific terms for how and when the war should end.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said talks would begin as early as today on crafting a spending bill that he hopes Bush will sign, with restrictions that lawmakers from both parties are seeking. Bush vetoed the first version of the bill over withdrawal language, and the White House has warned that the House’s second effort, which would guarantee funding only through July, would meet the same fate.
Wary of holding up troop funding, Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., warned that a week-long Memorial Day recess would be canceled unless negotiations are completed by May 25. The Senate leader also cautioned Republicans not to interpret Wednesday’s vote as a sign that Democratic resolve is weakening in the final stretch.
The House bill also includes benchmarks, and they are almost certain to be included in a final spending agreement, along with consequences if the Iraqi government falls short. The unanswered question is what the consequences will be, and what will trigger them.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said benchmarks were a near certainty. “The Iraqi government, it strikes me, needs to understand that they’re running out of time to get their part of the job done,” McConnell said.
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