Democrats Back Down on Troop Withdrawal
Reid: "There are many different ways of focusing on the problems in Iraq."
May 3, 2007 — -- A serene group of Democratic Senate leaders indicated this afternoon that they were willing to give up on forcing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in the next iteration of a troop funding bill, after President Bush's Wednesday night veto.
In fact, though Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., insisted that "there is nothing that's off the table" in negotiations, he and his colleagues emphasized other provisions they would push and did not say one word in favor of requiring a deadline for U.S. troops to leave Iraq.
"There are many different ways of focusing on the problems in Iraq," Reid said when ABC News asked him about timetables for troop withdrawal.
"Timetables is one. Benchmarks is one. We could have waivers from the president. We could have waivers from the secretary of defense. There are just many different things that can be done," he said.
Reid noted that "there were many different things that were in our legislation that passed" that might survive in the new troop funding bill.
"We have benchmarks. We may need more benchmarks. We may need a way of enforcing the benchmarks."
Additionally, Republican senators are calling him about troop readiness, Reid said. "That is, how much training should the troops get before they go? How much rest should they get when they get back?"
Reid and other members of his leadership team -- Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; and Patty Murray, D-Wash. -- spoke today almost as if their last bill didn't call for a U.S. troop withdrawal.
"If our legislation stood for anything, it stood for two propositions," said Schumer. "One, we support the troops. Two, we must change the mission. The president's veto isn't going to change our two goals. We're going to keep at it. We're going to try new ways to reach a reasonable agreement with the president. We're not abandoning our heartfelt view that that mission must change."
Earlier today Reid met with White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for about 45 minutes.
