March 29, 2007
Congress: Senate Passes Iraq Bill With Timetable
The Senate narrowly approved a $122 billion funding bill that requires President Bush to begin removing U.S. troops from Iraq within four months, AP reports. Bush has promised to veto the bill, which includes a non-binding call for the end of combat operations by March 2008.
The 51-47 vote on passage "came shortly after Bush, in a move that his aides said was unprecedented, invited all House Republicans to the White House to appear with him in a sort of pep rally to bolster his position in the continuing war policy fight." The vote came down largely along party lines, with all but two Republicans -- Nebraska's Chuck Hagel and Oregon's Gordon Smith -- backing the president. Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman (Conn.) voted nay.
"We've spoken the words the American people wanted us to speak," Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters. "The Senate and the House have held together and done what we've done. It's now in [Bush's] corner to do what he wants to do." However, Democratic leaders have admitted they lack the two-thirds support needed in both chambers of Congress to override Bush's veto.
