House Leaders Move Toward Iraq Vote

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, right, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace appear before the House Armed Services Committee hearing on Iraq, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook) (Dennis Cook - AP)

WASHINGTON -- House Democratic leaders coalesced Wednesday around a stripped-down measure that disapproves of President Bush's decision to send more forces to Iraq and declares support for the troops, according to party aides who said a vote was likely next week.

The vote would be the first on the House floor on the war since Democrats wrestled control of Congress in the Nov. 7 elections. The war, stretching nearly four years and killing more than 3,000 troops, has become widely unpopular among voters.

Democratic officials said they hoped for bipartisan support for the measure, and one Republican leader conceded some members of the GOP rank-and-file would likely break ranks.

"I don't think it'll be a pure party-line vote," said Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., chairman of the House Republican Conference.

Democratic leaders met privately Wednesday to discuss the issue, and they intend to present their proposal to their own rank-and-file Thursday.

Leaders envision each House member getting a chance to speak for five minutes on the issue during a three-day debate. The proposal is expected to circumvent committee review.

Such a measure would indicate House leaders want their own approach to parting company with Bush on the war and are moving away from a version that stalled in the Senate.

That resolution, drafted by Sen. John Warner, R-Va., stated disagreement to Bush's decision to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq. In a bid to attract more GOP support, Warner added a section promising to protect funding for troops in combat _ a promise many House Democrats do not want to make.

"The president has left the Congress few alternatives other than to use the power of (the) purse spelled out in Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution to curtail U.S. military operations in Iraq," wrote California Democratic Reps. Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee on behalf of 71 members of the progressive congressional caucus, a liberal group.

Frustrated that Senate leaders could not agree on debate rules for his resolution, Warner and six other Republicans told the leaders in a letter Wednesday that "the current stalemate is unacceptable to us and to the people of this country."

Republicans, on a party-line vote, blocked debate on the resolution earlier this week.

"Despite what has happened earlier this week, we are not going away," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. Collins and Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., sided with Democrats in seeking to move ahead on the measure.