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Capitol Hill erupts over withdrawal

Four months ahead of midterm elections, a partisan debate on the war overtakes the House and the Senate.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 16, 2006

WASHINGTON - Congress plunged into divisive election-year debate on the Iraq war Thursday as the U.S. military death toll reached 2,500. The Senate soundly rejected a call to withdraw combat troops by year's end, and House Republicans laid the groundwork for their own vote.

In a move Democrats criticized as gamesmanship, Senate Republicans brought up the withdrawal measure and quickly dispatched it 93-6.

In a daylong House debate, Republicans defended the Iraq war as a key part of the global fight against terrorism while Democrats assailed President Bush's war policies and called for a new direction in the conflict.

Republicans moved toward a vote on a resolution to reject any timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces.

Congress roared into debate on the conflict four months before midterm elections that will decide the control of both the House and Senate. Republicans in both the Senate and House sought to put lawmakers of both parties on record on an issue certain to be central in this fall's congressional elections.

The Senate vote unfolded unexpectedly as the second-ranking leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., introduced legislation he said was taken from a proposal by Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat and war critic. It called for Bush to agree with the Iraqi government on a schedule for withdrawal of combat troops by Dec. 31.

Kerry and five other Democrats - Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Barbara Boxer of California, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts - were in the minority on the vote.

In the House, Republicans arranged for the debate to culminate in a vote on a resolution that praises U.S. troops, labels the Iraq war part of the larger global fight against terrorism and says an "arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment" of troops is not in the national interest.

Democrats decried the debate as a sham, saying Republicans promised an open discussion but instead stacked the deck in their favor by limiting debate to 10 hours and barring amendments.

House Democrats also complained that Republicans refused to allow them to present an alternative resolution - though Democrats weren't able to agree on just what to offer.

Senate and president okay war spending

The Senate sent President Bush on Thursday a $94.5-billion emergency spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for aid for Gulf Coast hurricane victims.

The 98-1 vote on the compromise House-Senate legislation gives $66-billion to the Pentagon for military operations overseas.

The bill would bring to almost $320-billion the tally for the campaign in Iraq and $89-billion for the one in Afghanistan.

President Bush promptly signed the bill.

infobox: What they said

Quotes from congressional debate Thursday."If we were to cut and run, the violence in Iraq would certainly increase. ... Chaos would result. Bloody civil war would result. Terrorists and rival militias would tear the country apart." - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn."The American people understand that you can question President Bush's Iraq policy and support our troops." - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif."We must stand firm in our commitment to fight terrorism and the evil it inflicts throughout the world. We must renew our resolve that the actions of evildoers will not dictate American policy." - House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill."This is a blunder of historic proportions by this president." - Rep. George Miller, D-Calif."The American people need decisiveness not flip flopping." - Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C."There's a better way to honor our troops then sending more of them off to be killed." - Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas.

[Last modified June 16, 2006, 07:19:01]