Washington – By a narrow margin reflecting deep divisions over the Iraq war, the House voted Friday to set a September 2008 deadline for withdrawing all U.S. combat troops from Iraq, confronting President Bush with his most serious challenge over the conflict and setting the president and Democratic leadership on a collision course over war powers.
Soon after the bill passed 218-212, Bush reiterated his threat to veto the legislation, which is tied to a $124 billion spending bill that includes funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush accused the Democrats of jeopardizing American troops in the field in an attempt “to score political points” against the administration.
If a new spending bill, without conditions, is not approved and signed into law before April 15, the president warned, it would put troops and their families in danger as current funding for the war is set to dry up in a matter of weeks. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that a holdup in funding would force the Army to delay the training of units and halt repair of vital equipment.
But on Friday, claiming her most significant political victory since voters handed control of Congress to the Democrats in the midterm elections, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was not blinking, saying that Democrats would fight to make their proposal law.
“The American people have lost faith in the president’s conduct of this war,” said Pelosi, D-Calif. “The American people see the reality of the war. The president does not.”
It seems unlikely the measure will become law, at least in its current form. The Senate already has rejected one Iraq withdrawal measure and is preparing to debate another one this week.
Bush countered the Democrats by saying their plan to set a certain end date for the war was ill-advised, and he criticized them for attaching extraneous “pork-barrel” spending to the bill – pet projects with no direct connection to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars but meant to win over on-the-fence Democrats. Among the projects attached to the legislation are funding for spinach subsidies and money to rebuild levees destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
“This bill has too much pork, too many conditions and an artificial timetable for withdrawal,” Bush said. “As I have made clear for weeks, I will veto it if it comes to my desk.”
The withdrawal provision calls for U.S. troops to be out of Iraq by Sept. 1, 2008. The bill also calls for the Iraqi government to achieve a series of performance benchmarks and for Bush to certify the readiness of American troops being deployed.
Democrats portrayed Friday’s vote as marking a key juncture in the war debate. They argued that Bush now has to negotiate with the Democrats on how to move forward and wind down a war that has become increasingly unpopular with the public.
Emotions ran high during the four hours of debate that stretched over two days. Several members brought their children to witness the speeches from the House floor, and both parties called on old soldiers to make some of the last pitches in front of a packed House chamber before the start of the vote.
Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., a freshman legislator and former 82nd Airborne Division officer who served in Iraq, spoke of the 19 fellow paratroopers in his unit who were killed in Iraq. Murphy said that the vote offered members of the House a chance to show leadership where the administration had failed.
As he spoke, his voice wavered as he recalled a soldier in his command asking when the Iraqis would step up and deal with their own security problems. “He said, ‘Sir, what are we still doing over here?”‘ Murphy said.
Republicans called on Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, an Air Force pilot who spent several years as a prisoner of war after being shot down over North Vietnam. Johnson said troops in the field “need the full support of their country and their Congress.” He also bemoaned the extraneous home-state sweeteners in the bill to pay for shrimping and spinach subsidies as well as an earmark for a peanut storage facility in Georgia.
“What does throwing money at Bubba Gump, Popeye the Sailor Man and Mr. Peanut have to do with winning the war?” Johnson said.
In the days leading up to the vote, it seemed uncertain whether Pelosi and the Democratic leadership would be able to round up the votes needed to win approval of their proposal. Members of the more liberal wing of the party chafed at the idea of spending more on a war they believe is no longer viable.
On Friday morning, Pelosi held a party caucus in which she reiterated the importance of the vote. The night before the vote, members of the Out of Iraq Caucus announced they had “released” members to vote with the leadership.
In the end, 14 Democrats voted against its passage, including several conservative Democrats who worried that the bill went too far. Two Republicans – Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland and Walter Jones of North Carolina – joined the 216 Democrats who voted in favor of the bill.
