Washington – House Democrats threatened Tuesday to take up a resolution next week to oppose President Bush’s controversial troop buildup in Iraq, cranking up the pressure on Republicans who have blocked a vote on the measure in the Senate.
The move would shift the focus of the debate over the 4-year- old war to the House, where Democrats have enough votes to pass a measure over Republican opposition. It also may further isolate the White House and its allies in the Senate, who are bucking public opinion that has turned sharply against the Iraq war and the president’s plans to expand it.
When congressional Democrats began their campaign to challenge Bush over the unpopular war last month, House leaders decided to defer to the Senate to pass a resolution first.
But on Monday, GOP senators derailed consideration of a nonbinding, bipartisan resolution that criticizes the Bush plan by preventing Democrats from getting the 60 votes needed to bring up the measure.
On Tuesday, with few signs that the impasse would end soon in the Senate, House leaders said they might move first on an issue that Americans say is the most pressing one facing the nation.
“We said for a long period of time we would follow the Senate, but we believe it is important for us to make … our views known,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said at his weekly briefing with reporters.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has told her colleagues that a resolution against the president’s call for 21,500 additional troops would be just the first of several legislative actions intended to pressure Bush into starting to withdraw American combat forces from Iraq.
Despite the mounting pressure, Senate Republicans continued to insist Tuesday that they simply want a fair debate on the floor of the Senate.
Alternative resolutions
As they did Monday, they complained that they were not being allowed to bring up two alternatives to the resolution crafted by Sen. John Warner, R-Va., that “disagrees” with the president’s plan to send more troops into Baghdad to control the sharply escalating sectarian violence.
One of the resolutions – sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the leading cheerleader for a troop buildup – backs the new strategy but also expresses the need for the Iraqi government to meet certain benchmarks to prove its commitment to help the American effort.
The other, offered by Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., is a short resolution that opposes any limit on funds for American troops in the field.
But Senate Democrats hammered Republicans on Monday for ducking a formal debate on the war. And by Tuesday morning, some Republicans worried that the public would misunderstand their stance.
“It’s very unfortunate that we appear to be blocking,” McCain complained. “I hope we can make the American people aware that we’re just asking for votes on our amendment, which is the way the Senate works.”
Little prospect for accord
The fact that Senate Democrats could pull together only 49 of the 60 votes needed to break the procedural impasse on the resolution was a product of many competing agendas.
There was the Democratic desire to avoid getting tied up on any vote that could be perceived as undercutting U.S. troops or endorsing Bush’s plan. At the same time, a number of Republicans showed they were not yet ready to abandon the president even though many blame him for their November election losses and worry he will hurt them again next year. Then there were the presidential ambitions of several senators who are trying to distinguish themselves from others on the issue, and have little incentive to seek common ground.
By the end of the day Tuesday, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the majority leader, said he saw little prospect that Democrats and Republicans could reach agreement on a plan to bring the resolution to the floor.
Now, House Democrats are also poised to ratchet up the pressure. And House Republicans have started to attack the resolution.
“A meaningless, nonbinding resolution from Democrats may score a couple political points here at home, but it will not score any points with our troops,” said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.
But without rules like those in the Senate that enable the minority to impede legislation, the House is a far less hospitable environment for the Republicans. Hoyer said Tuesday that Democrats would not allow any GOP amendments to the resolution criticizing Bush’s Iraq plan.
The New York Times contributed to this report.
