Senate Democrats: No Compromise on Iraq
Democratic leaders vow to bring forward legislation to change policy on Iraq.
Sept. 18, 2007 — -- Despite earlier suggestions from Senate Democrats that they would offer compromise legislation to change course in Iraq that could win the support of Republicans, Senate Democrats announced Tuesday afternoon that they were forgoing any softer language in their bills and would introduce Iraq-related legislation as aggressive as that in previous bills -- including two that called for withdrawing U.S. combat troops.
The announcement, which surprised some Republicans, suggested that Democrats see their position to withdraw U.S. troops as soon as possible from Iraq not only as not only correct in terms of policy but politically as well.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced Tuesday afternoon that the Senate would vote this week on legislation ranging from extending the time troops are allowed to spend at home between tours -- a bill that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has suggested should be vetoed -- to one that would mandate the withdrawal of almost all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by June 2008, a bill President Bush would unquestionably veto.
A withdrawal bill that Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, had suggested he would change by removing any hard and fast deadlines for troop withdrawal so as to win GOP support will, Reid announced, remain largely the same in substance.
"It's the same as it was before," Reid said. "Deadlines are in it, timelines are in it."And a rare bipartisan bill offered by Sens. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., that would suggest the implementation of the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group from last December, will not be introduced.
"The original Iraq Study Group amendment doesn't require the president, the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, anyone to do anything," said Reid. "It's just, 'Whip it out there, it sounds good.'"
The first bill to be debated, likely Wednesday, will be offered by Sens. Jim Webb, D-Va., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and would allow U.S. troops to spend at least as much time at home as they currently spend in combat overseas.
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