House Passes Troop Withdrawal Bill

ByABC News
March 23, 2007, 5:06 PM

March 23, 2007 — -- Despite the threat of a presidential veto, the House of Representatives made an historic vote today, passing legislation by the narrowest of margins to begin the process of withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq.

The legislation passed by a largely party-line vote of 218-212, garnering the bare minimum number of votes needed to pass. Drafted by House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., the bill ties troop withdrawal provisions to more than $100 billion in emergency funds for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as more than $20 billion in projects that have little or nothing to do with Iraq.

Friday's result was a direct result of last November's midterm elections -- every one of the 42 freshman Democrats voted to support the bill.

Congress "voted no to giving a blank check to an open-ended commitment to war without end," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., "and yes to begin the end of the war and the redeployment of our troops."

But only 80 minutes after the vote gaveled to a close, a blistering reaction came from President Bush. Standing with military families as his backdrop, the president promised he would veto the bill.

"These Democrats believe that the longer they can delay funding for our troops, the more likely they are to force me to accept restrictions on our commanders, an artificial timetable for withdrawal, and their pet spending projects," said the president. "This is not going to happen."

The bill imposes benchmarks on the Iraqi government for reform programs, such as an oil revenue sharing program, and clearing militias from the Interior Ministry. If Bush fails to certify that progress on those benchmarks has not been made by June 1, or accomplished by October 1, U.S. combat troops would begin redeploying out of the country.

Regardless, troops would begin redeploying in March 2008, with a deadline for a complete exit at the end of August 2008.

Right up until the vote, which took place around 12:30 p.m., the House debate was furious.