Washington – Flinching in the face of a veto threat, Democratic congressional leaders neared agreement with the Bush administration Tuesday on legislation to pay for the Iraq war without setting a timeline for troop withdrawal.
Several officials said the emerging compromise bill would cost about $120 billion, including as much as $8 billion for Democratic domestic priorities – originally resisted by the White House – such as disaster relief for Hurricane Katrina victims and farmers hurt by drought.
After a bruising veto struggle over war funding, congressional leaders in both political parties said they hoped the compromise would be cleared for President Bush’s signature by Friday.
Despite the concession, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters that the legislation would be the first war-funding bill sent to Bush since the U.S. invasion of Iraq “where he won’t get a blank check.”
Reid and other Democrats pointed to a provision that would set standards for the Iraqi government in developing a more democratic society. U.S. reconstruction aid would be conditioned on progress toward meeting the goals, but Bush would have authority to order the money to be spent regardless of how the government in Baghdad performed.
He said Democrats would look to a different defense bill later this summer to “continue our battle – and that’s what it is – to represent the American people like they want us to represent them, to change the course of the war in Iraq.”
