Washington – Sen. Ken Salazar’s hopes of making the Iraq Study Group recommendations the U.S. strategy in Iraq were dashed Wednesday when Democrats abruptly stopped work on a war-spending bill.
Senators had waged an all- night debate on the war bill, but by morning Democrats failed to muster enough votes to end a filibuster. Although Salazar’s measure and other proposed amendments to the bill had not yet been considered, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., suspended all work on the bill rather than continue on.
The Senate likely won’t take up the issue again until September.
“It was a disappointment that we couldn’t move forward,” Salazar, D-Colo., told reporters in a conference call afterward. “There will be another day when we revisit Iraq. Hopefully (then) we will be able to chart a new course in Iraq.”
Salazar and Colorado’s Republican Sen. Wayne Allard split their votes on a question of whether to end debate on a troop-withdrawal amendment.
Allard joined all but four Republicans in voting against it.
Allard called the overnight debate “nothing more than a circus” and criticized Democrats for scuttling the defense bill, which also includes a pay raise for troops, revised regulations for detaining suspects in the war on terrorism and an increase in the size of the Army and Marines.
Like many other Republicans, Allard said he wants to wait for a September report from Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, on President Bush’s recent troop buildup.
Salazar has not said whether he would have supported the troop-withdrawal amendment. Instead, Salazar said he voted with his party to end the filibuster so the Senate could continue debate on the bill.
His amendment had picked up support from more than a dozen moderates in both parties, including co-sponsor Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., as an alternative to pulling troops and staying the course.
Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., had introduced a companion bill in the House. It’s unclear whether Udall’s bill could make it to the Senate.
The Iraq Study Group is a bipartisan group that in December recommended a series of benchmarks Iraqis would have to meet for continued U.S. support. If all the steps were followed, the panel said, most troops could begin leaving by next spring.
