Washington – Democratic leaders in Congress have decided to shift course and pursue modest bipartisan measures to alter U.S. military strategy in Iraq, hoping to use incremental changes instead of aggressive legislation to break the grip Republicans have held over the direction of war policy.
Standing against them will be President Bush, who intends to use a prime-time address tonight to try to ease concerns that his Iraq strategy will lead to an open-ended military commitment.
Both efforts share a single target: a handful of Republican moderates in the Senate whose votes the Democrats need to overcome the threat of a GOP filibuster. Should enough Republican moderates sign on to a compromise measure, Democrats could finally pass legislation aimed at changing the direction of the war in Iraq.
“We’re reaching out to the Republicans to allow them to fulfill their word,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday. “A number of them are quoted significantly saying that come September that there would have to be a change of the course in the war in Iraq.”
After two days of congressional testimony from Army Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, the battle lines in the House and Senate over the war have begun to shift, with moderate members of both parties building new momentum behind initiatives that would force the White House to make modest changes to the military mission in Iraq but not require a substantial drawdown of troops by a set date.
Democratic leaders, who have blessed the new approach, now believe that passing compromise legislation is the first step toward more ambitious measures aimed at ending the war, although that tactic likely will result in stiff opposition from Democratic activists who want a rapid troop withdrawal.
Just months ago, Democratic leaders gave short shrift to any bipartisan bills deemed insufficiently strong by their left flank. A Senate measure proposed by Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., to institute the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group never came to a vote after Reid slammed it as “weak tea.”
And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blocked consideration of a bill to force the Bush administration to plan for withdrawals after anti- war Democrats denounced it.
But after months of false starts and dead ends, Democratic leaders are taking a pragmatic turn.
“We want to get something to the president’s desk,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
House and Senate Democratic leaders are now working in tandem on legislative efforts, knowing that if Iraq legislation can make it through the Senate, GOP moderates in the House will be more likely to change sides, Van Hollen said.
“If the Senate starts actually passing legislation, that could really change things,” said Rep. Michael Castle, R-Del., a GOP moderate who has been working with Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn., on a more bipartisan approach.
Administration officials are equally aware that congressional Republicans will be the key to the legislative fight, said former White House official Peter Wehner. But White House officials believe the president’s hand was strengthened by two days of testimony by Petraeus and Crocker.
“What this is really about at its core is congressional votes about a war policy,” Wehner said. “And that policy will go forward as long as Republicans hold – and that was the first order of business. And they achieved it very well.”
And with the president holding the veto pen, White House officials are feeling confident they will retain the necessary votes.
At least 10 Senate Republicans have openly questioned the president’s Iraq strategy, even as they remain reluctant to embrace Democratic legislation to change it. Republican war critics said they are detecting a shift – albeit a slight one – toward outright dissent, as their colleagues digest the Petraeus and Crocker testimony and the prospect of maintaining a large U.S. military presence in Iraq for the foreseeable future.
“I’m not alone in my feelings, but so far I’m fairly isolated in terms of manifesting them with a vote,” said Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., one of the party’s few on-the-record war dissenters.
Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., who has been virtually silent on the war this year, startled her colleagues on the Armed Services Committee on Tuesday with her criticisms of the administration and call for “a policy that the majority of Americans will support” on Iraq.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said Dole’s comments reveal a building frustration among otherwise loyal Republicans about an undefined commitment in Iraq – and its potential political consequences.
“I think Republicans, like a lot of Americans, are worried about how things are going. They’re hearing mixed results. They don’t believe everything that comes out of the State Department or the Pentagon or the White House. They’re thinking critically,” Sessions said.
The Senate next week will resume consideration of its annual defense policy bill. Democratic leaders will focus their efforts on four to six amendments that they believe could get the 60 votes needed for passage.
