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Senate Rejects Iraq Withdrawal Amendment William Branigin The Senate today decisively rejected a war-funding proposal that would have cut off money for U.S. combat operations in Iraq after March 31, 2008, a measure that nevertheless drew support from Democratic presidential contenders seeking to position themselves on the Iraq war for the political campaign ahead. Democratic supporters of the defeated proposal included Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Barack Obama (Ill.), Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) and Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.). At issue was an amendment offered by Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) that would have required Bush to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq within 120 days and would have cut off funding for combat operations in Iraq after March 31, 2008. The proposal went down 29-67 on a procedural vote, falling far short of the 60 votes it needed to advance. It was one of a series of largely symbolic votes today on war spending proposals, testing support for restrictions on President Bush's war policy in Iraq ahead of negotiations with the House on legislation to provide stopgap funding. The White House welcomed the Senate's rejection of the Feingold proposal, saying it sends a powerful message to lawmakers negotiating a bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among those voting against the Feingold amendment were 47 Republicans, 19 Democrats and one independent -- Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.). Supporting the proposal were 28 Democrats and independent Bernard Sanders (Vt.). The Senate also rejected a proposal, introduced by Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) and backed by Republican moderates, that would have tied billions of dollars in U.S. reconstruction funding for Iraq to progress by the Iraqi government in implementing political and security reforms aimed at stabilizing the country. In a last-minute change, however, Warner added a provision allowing the president to waive the restrictions on U.S. funding. The waiver authority was intended overcome opposition from the White House, but some Democrats complained that it left the proposal too weak to draw their support. The procedural vote on the measure was 52-44, falling eight votes short of the 60 it needed to move ahead. Warner said the proposal had been carefully negotiated, and he defended it as "a good-faith effort" to press Iraqi leaders to deal with sectarian violence and other issues standing in the way of national reconciliation. Another Republican amendment simply calls on Congress to pass a war-funding bill that Bush would be willing to sign.
On May 1, Bush vetoed a $124 billion emergency supplemental appropriations bill that provided $95.5 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year but contained a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq. The House of Representatives followed up last week by passing a bill that provides money until July and requires Bush to certify that Iraq is meeting political and economic benchmarks as a condition for further funding after that. Bush said last week that he accepts the idea of including benchmarks for progress in Iraq as part of an emergency war spending bill, but he rejected what he called "piecemeal" funding and vowed to veto the House bill if it reached his desk. Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) today separately withdrew a proposal, co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), that would have given Bush the war funding he wants, provided the administration began withdrawing troops from Iraq by Oct. 1, with a goal of completing the pullout by March 31, 2008. However, the proposal also would have allowed Bush to waive the troop withdrawal requirement. "The purpose of our amendment was to reiterate the Senate position that we should begin the withdrawal of our forces from Iraq within 120 days as a way to pressure the Iraqi leaders to reach a political settlement and to recognize their responsibility for their own country," Levin said in a statement. "The amendment included authority for the president to waive the requirement to begin this withdrawal in an effort to avoid a veto." He said he and Reid decided to withdraw the proposal after the White House informed them yesterday that Bush would still veto such legislation even if it included waiver authority. In addition, Levin said, some Democrats saw the waiver as a "weakening of the original Senate position" in the supplemental appropriations bill that Bush vetoed. Reid said in a statement that the proposal had been "a sincere effort to bridge the differences between the White House and the bipartisan majority here in Congress who demanded that we change course in Iraq." He said he continues to believe that "this is a reasonable approach that should be considered in the upcoming negotiations." In any case, Reid warned, "if my Republican friends choose to stick with a failed policy, congressional Democrats will take this fight up again at the first available opportunity." The office of House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said Republicans "will oppose any measures which undercut our troops and undermine our national security." It said in a statement, "We need a clean troop funding bill that gives our troops the resources they need to be successful -- no strings, no timelines and no pork. Congress has a duty to pass a clean troop funding bill by Memorial Day." White House spokesman Tony Snow said of the rejected Feingold proposal, "It is pretty clear that the Senate decided that it was not going to go ahead and vote on withdrawal with timetables, has voted against withdrawal, and I think that sends a pretty powerful message to those who are continuing to conduct negotiations. . . ." He added, "Simply withdrawing on a timetable is not something that the American people -- or, for that matter, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate -- support." Snow said that "negotiations are ongoing" between the White House and Congress on a war-funding bill that Bush would sign. ---------------------------------------------------
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