Defiant Democrats vote to begin pullout

By Carl Hulse and Jeff Zeleny, New York Times

http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1089180.html

WASHINGTON - Issuing a stinging challenge to President Bush, the
Senate on Thursday narrowly approved a spending measure that provided
more than $97.5 billion for military operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan but ordered troop withdrawals from Iraq to begin within
120 days and set a goal of removing most forces within a year.

Democrats, preparing for a veto fight, immediately sought to paint the
president as obstinate in the face of public sentiment against the
war.

"If the president vetoes this bill, it is an asterisk in history,"
said Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, after the vote of
51-47 on the measure. "He sets the record for undermining the troops
more than any president we have ever had."

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky rebutted quickly.
"Nothing good can come from this bill," he said. "It's loaded with
pork that has no relation to our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Republicans united

Several blocks away, the commander in chief stood with Republican
House members and told reporters, "We stand united in saying loud and
clear that when we've got a troop in harm's way, we expect that troop
to be fully funded," he said. "And we've got commanders making tough
decisions on the ground, we expect there to be no strings on our
commanders. And that we expect the Congress to be wise about how they
spend the people's money."

Two Republicans, Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Gordon Smith of
Oregon, joined 49 Democrats in backing the bill, which totaled $123
billion when money for Gulf Coast hurricane relief, agricultural aid
and domestic pork-barrel projects were added to secure votes. The bill
also includes the Democratic plan to raise the minimum wage by $2.15
over two years.

Reid promised that negotiators would quickly begin to reconcile the
new Senate measure with a version passed by the House last week and
have a bill ready to be approved and sent to the president soon after
the House returned from its spring break on April 16.

The administration has said the military needs the money by April 15,
and the White House said Thursday that the Pentagon was already having
to juggle accounts, shifting money from one program to another to buy
more vehicles better able to withstand mines.

Democrats blamed the president for that as well, saying he took too
long to send his financing request to Congress. They also dismissed
Republican complaints that they were micromanaging military policy,
saying that Congress had constitutional authority equal to that of the
executive branch and that Democrats were forced to intercede because
of Bush's refusal to heed public sentiment to withdraw.

Dana Perino, the deputy White House spokeswoman, said, "This, again,
underscores the need to get the show on the road, get the bill to the
president, he will veto it, and then, we'll take it from there."We are
sending mixed messages to the world, we are sending mixed messages to
our allies, we are sending a clear message to our enemies: When the
times get too tough, America's going to walk away regardless of what's
going on on the ground," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas,
chairwoman of the Republican Policy Committee. "We're putting a
bull's-eye on our troops with boots on the ground."

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House
Defense Appropriations Committee during testimony Thursday that a
delay in funding would have a chain reaction that could keep units in
Iraq longer than planned. He said if the final funding bill is not
passed by May 15, the Army will have to cut back on reserve training
and equipment repairs, and possibly delay the formation of units
needed to relieve those deployed.

Significant differences

Though both the House and Senate have called for military exits from
Iraq, they must resolve significant differences between their
approaches.

The Senate bill would direct Bush to begin moving troops out of the
country within 120 days of the measure becoming law, "with the goal of
redeploying, by March 31, 2008, all United States combat forces." The
House measure calling for most troops to be removed by Sept. 1, 2008.

For all the public confrontation between the president and the
Democratic leaders of Congress, Pelosi and Bush were chatting amicably
on Thursday afternoon in the Capitol rotunda during a ceremony
honoring the Tuskegee Airmen. Among the topics, aides later said, was
the Iraq spending bill and how they intend to break their deadlock.