Congressional Iraq Bill Headed for White House

April 26, 2007 — -- The kabuki dance that is the current Iraq War debate proceeded to its inevitable conclusion Thursday as the U.S. Senate narrowly passed a $124 billion war funding bill that requires that U.S. troops begin withdrawing.

It's a bill that, with the long-awaited threat of a presidential veto, has no chance of ever becoming law.

But the fact that the bill, which narrowly passed the U.S. House Wednesday evening, is legislatively hopeless does not mean it is meaningless.

Democratic leaders of the House and Senate suggest that continued pressure on the president to end U.S. involvement in the conflict in Iraq is rallying the public against the war. In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday, 56 percent of the American people agreed with establishing a deadline for U.S. withdrawal, with 37 percent siding with the president against the move.

The president's promised veto will likely be followed by another troop funding bill that the president will sign, one that will contain benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet, and U.S. troop readiness requirements, but no firm deadlines for U.S. troop withdrawal.

"The president has already predicted he's just going to take this and veto it," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the majority whip. "But we hope there will be one moment, one moment of prayerful reflection before he puts that pen to paper. And in that moment, if he closes his eyes in prayer, I hope he sees the faces … of these fallen soldiers."

The bill had a predetermined outcome -- 49 Democrats united with two Republicans, Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Gordon Smith of Oregon, to pass the bill.

Though their presence wouldn't have changed the outcome of the vote, two of the strongest supporters of the war, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., weren't even in Washington, campaigning as they were in the Palmetto State for McCain's presidential campaign.

Nonetheless, passions on the Senate floor remained in full pitch.