Hill Leaders React to Bush Veto

ABC News’ Z. Byron Wolf Reports: Just after President Bush explained his veto, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid responded on Capitol Hill – their second joint event of the day (and the second at which they took no questions).

"The president may be content with keeping our troops mired in the middle of an open-ended civil war, but we’re not — and neither are most Americans," said Reid.

"A bipartisan majority of Congress sent the president a bill to fully fund our troops and change the mission in Iraq. The president refused to sign this bill. That’s his right, but now he has an obligation to explain his plan to responsibly end this war. In the coming days, we’ll continue to reach out to the president, and we hope congressional Republicans who remained silent — congressional Republicans through this whole debate — will work with us as well. But if the president thinks that by vetoing this bill he’ll stop us from working to change the direction of the war in Iraq, he is mistaken."

Pelosi said she hopes to find common ground when Congressional leaders travel to the White House tomorrow, but pointed to Bush’s remarks tonight when she said, "If the President thinks what is happening on the ground in Iraq is progress, its clear to see why we don’t agree."

She pointed out that while President Bush has said a timeline for withdrawal would hinder him as commander-in-chief, but as Candidate Bush in 1999, he said any troops committed to a foreign country should know how long they are going to be there. "The President wants a blank check," Pelosi said. "But Congress is not going to give it to him."

Republicans on Capitol Hill are poised to be dealmakers in this debate and are already looking toward the next phase in the political gamesmanship that will eventually lead to a troop funding bill.

After a weekly Senate Republican caucus meeting earlier in the day, Sen. Mitch McConnell said he’s already had preliminary meetings with Reid on what’s next for the funding bill and they will have more formal meetings, probably tomorrow, in addition to their powwow with President Bush.

McConnell said he sees a willingness on the Democratic side, after the veto, to get a bill to the President that he will sign. McConnell also seemed to indicate that he could support a bill that included "benchmarks" for the Iraqi government — though not benchmarks with any consequences.

"A number of Republicans think some kind of benchmarks would be helpful. General Petraeus said he thought benchmarks would be helpful. Its an area to talk about starting tomorrow," said McConnell.