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.

"Presidents make mistakes, and this president has made this mistake," thundered Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. "The American people were right in Vietnam and brought that war to an end, and the American people are right now."

The bill would begin removing U.S. combat troops from Iraq as early as July if the Iraqi government fails to meet certain benchmarks, such as removing militias from the government and making progress on revenue-sharing from the country's oil supplies. If the government meets those requirements, troops would begin to leave Iraq Sept. 1.

"It forces the Iraqi leaders to take responsibility for their own country by ending the open-ended commitment to provide a U.S. security blanket," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The bill's ultimate goal is to remove all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by Dec. 31 if the Iraqi government fails to meet the benchmarks, or March 31, 2008, at the latest -- a date Republicans deem an appointment to surrender.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, called the bill "the worst case of capitulation to appeasement since Neville Chamberlain spoke the words 'peace in our time.'"

"This legislation is tragic," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Senate minority leader. "If the Iraqis make progress, we leave. If they don't, we leave."

White House press secretary Dana Perino said the president would unquestionably veto the bill.

"The president is determined to win in Iraq," she said. "The bill they sent us today is 'Mission Defeated.'"

In fact, Democratic leaders are thinking of sending the bill to the president Tuesday, the four-year anniversary of his "Mission Accomplished" photo op onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. It could be an uncomfortable reminder of everything in Iraq that remains unaccomplished.

ABC News' Avery Miller, Jennifer Duck and Lisa Chinn contributed to this report.