Democrats Link Wishes to War Funding

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said the administration owes returning service members because it went to war "with too few of them, too little equipment, no policy and no benefit when they came home," adding: "In our view, it rights a wrong."

The Webb bill covers the cost of the most expensive in-state college for soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan, offering a year's tuition for each year served in the war zone.

Obey estimated that the initial cost of the measure would be $720 million over two years. "This turkey of a war is costing us a hell of a lot more than that," he said.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has joined a pair of his supporters, Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.), in offering a slimmed-down version of Webb's provision.

Republicans predicted that almost every GOP senator would support funding for the wars and the additional veterans' benefits in some fashion. They left open the option of voting to support a smaller benefit that would not be attached to the war funding.

"Whether they'll go together, we'll have to wait and see," said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), a member of the GOP leadership team.

Obey rejected the notion that Democrats had loaded up the Iraq supplemental, which many in Congress view as the last major piece of legislation that could pass this year, with unrelated spending. He said the bill contains no special home-state projects, known as earmarks, adding that he rejected 110 proposals to add items to the measure.

Democrats said they hope the Senate will be able to pass its version of the bill next week, with the war and domestic spending included and the troop-withdrawal language stripped out.

Under that timeline, the House would pass the same bill and send it to the White House by Memorial Day, drawing a possible veto over the domestic spending.