House Passes Iraq Pullout Timetable

A woman watches as a U.S. army soldier from B Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment searches her home in west Baghdad's Ghazaliyah neighborhood, Iraq, Thursday, March 22, 2007. The U.S. army backed by Iraqi forces pushed further into a dangerous Sunni Arab area of Ghazaliyah, searching houses in the expanding security crackdown. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic) (Marko Drobnjakovic - AP)

But behind the heated debate yesterday, the standing ovations that greeted the most caustic Republican comments and the warnings issued over the consequences of the House bill, even top Republicans were showing signs that political pressure on them was growing to take a stand against their president.

Rep. Jerry Lewis (Calif.), the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, decried what he called "logrolling and political bribery" in the House bill. But in his next comment, he lauded the Senate's nonbinding benchmarks for the Iraqi government and language specifying withdrawal dates as goals. That alone is movement on the Republican side.

The outcome of the legislative battle is anything but clear. Starting on Monday, the Senate will take up its own $122 billion version of a war spending bill that would require troops to begin leaving Iraq within four months of passage and would set a nonbinding goal of March 31, 2008, for the removal of combat troops.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) vowed to defend that language yesterday as he praised the House bill as "legislation that maximizes our chances for success in Iraq and redeploys our troops so we can more effectively wage the war on terror."

Republican senators will move as early as Tuesday to strip the withdrawal timetable from the bill. Senate Democrats could muster only 48 votes earlier this month for a resolution calling for the same timeline. Reid spokesman Jim Manley said Democrats remain hopeful that they will win over a handful of Republicans for the 50 votes they need to preserve the withdrawal language.

If it remains, Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), would not say whether GOP senators would filibuster the war funding legislation or let Bush veto it.

Regardless of what the Senate passes, the real decisions will come behind closed doors, when House and Senate negotiators decide on the final bill to send to the president.

House leadership aides say Pelosi will demand that the final version include some deadline for troop withdrawals, and House members say she will have little room to maneuver. Many Democrats would view it as a betrayal if she compromised further, said Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey (D-N.Y.), a member of the antiwar Out of Iraq Caucus.

"It's a compromise now as it is, and I think it would be very difficult to achieve success with anything that is less of a directive to the administration," he said.

Staff writer Michael Abramowitz contributed to this report.