Bipartisan Senate Measure Confronts Bush Over Iraq
Bipartisan Senate Measure Confronts Bush Over Iraq
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post
A bipartisan group of senators announced a formal resolution of opposition yesterday to President Bush's buildup of troops in Iraq, calling for more diplomacy, international cooperation and an "appropriately expedited" transfer of military responsibilities to Iraqi security forces.
The nonbinding resolution, which could come to a vote within two weeks, moves Congress a major step closer to a public confrontation with the Bush administration over war policy. A Senate vote would be followed quickly by action in the House. But even before the resolution's introduction, prominent lawmakers, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), were pushing for far tougher measures that could cut off funding for the war and legislatively thwart Bush's "surge" of 21,500 additional troops.
Clinton said yesterday that she intends to support the resolution, drafted by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.). But, she added, "we will eventually have to move to tougher requirements on the administration to get their attention."
A week after Bush addressed the nation on his policy shift, bipartisan opposition appears to be gaining steam, despite continuing White House efforts to tamp down a congressional revolt. No fewer than four measures were introduced yesterday to block the war policy, including the Senate resolution and multiple proposals demanding congressional authorization before additional troop deployments. By day's end, the resolution of opposition had picked up another Republican co-sponsor, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (Maine).
"I will do everything I can to stop the president's policy, as he outlined it Wednesday night," Hagel said, referring to Bush's speech last week. "I think it is dangerously irresponsible."
(Continued here.)
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post
A bipartisan group of senators announced a formal resolution of opposition yesterday to President Bush's buildup of troops in Iraq, calling for more diplomacy, international cooperation and an "appropriately expedited" transfer of military responsibilities to Iraqi security forces.
The nonbinding resolution, which could come to a vote within two weeks, moves Congress a major step closer to a public confrontation with the Bush administration over war policy. A Senate vote would be followed quickly by action in the House. But even before the resolution's introduction, prominent lawmakers, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), were pushing for far tougher measures that could cut off funding for the war and legislatively thwart Bush's "surge" of 21,500 additional troops.
Clinton said yesterday that she intends to support the resolution, drafted by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.). But, she added, "we will eventually have to move to tougher requirements on the administration to get their attention."
A week after Bush addressed the nation on his policy shift, bipartisan opposition appears to be gaining steam, despite continuing White House efforts to tamp down a congressional revolt. No fewer than four measures were introduced yesterday to block the war policy, including the Senate resolution and multiple proposals demanding congressional authorization before additional troop deployments. By day's end, the resolution of opposition had picked up another Republican co-sponsor, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (Maine).
"I will do everything I can to stop the president's policy, as he outlined it Wednesday night," Hagel said, referring to Bush's speech last week. "I think it is dangerously irresponsible."
(Continued here.)
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