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Dems to back down on war money

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - After weeks of tough talk, Democrats appear resigned to back down again on providing money for the Iraq war.

What happened?

"Republicans, Republicans, Republicans," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "The real problem here is the president and his Republican backers" who have "staked out an increasingly hard-lined position."

Indeed, with Democrats holding a razor-thin majority in the Senate and with 60 votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles, Senate Republicans were in a plum negotiating spot this month.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., insisted that if Democrats want legislation paying for government operations this year, they will have to include money for the Iraq war.

"Do Republicans have a tough stance on funding the troops in the field? Yes," said McConnell's spokesman, Don Stewart. "Because we made a commitment to the troops overseas to give them the training and equipment and support that they need."

Democrats now are expected to allow Senate Republicans to attach tens of billions of dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to a $500 billion-plus government-wide spending bill. That move would be in exchange for GOP support on the huge spending measure.

The war money would not be tied to troop withdrawals, as Democrats want. But it would let Democrats wrap up their long-unfinished budget work and go on vacation before Christmas. It also would spare them from criticism during the holiday recess by President Bush for leaving work without providing money for the troops.

Without the money, the Defense Department said it would start delivering pink slips to thousands of contractors this month.

The plan caps off a disappointing year for Democrats on Iraq. The party had taken control of Congress for the first time since 1994, seizing on the public's frustration with the war. Even with their election victory, the slim margins in the Senate have rendered Democrats powerless in trying to bring troops home.

"We've tried maybe a dozen times" to bring troops home, said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "And when we do try and we don't succeed, we still provide funding for the troops."

Such talk runs contrary to the rhetoric just three weeks ago by other Democratic leaders.

Senate Republicans were blocking a $50 billion bill that would have paid for combat operations and set a goal of bringing troops home by December 2008. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters the House would not respond by sending Bush the bill he wanted, without conditions on withdrawal.

If efforts fail in the Senate, "we're not going to be taking it up anymore over here," she said at a Nov. 15 news conference.

The measure fell by a 53-45 vote in the Senate, seven short of the 60 needed. Afterward, Reid said the House "has made their position clear" and suggested the Senate would not revisit the issue.

"We're going to continue to do the right thing for the American people by having limited accountability for the president and not a blank check," he said. Because the Army has enough money through mid-February, he said, "everyone should rest with a good conscience."

Other Democrats stuck to that line.

"The days of a free lunch are over," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said: "If the president wants that $50 billion released, all he has to do is to call the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, and ask him to stop blocking it."

But facing an uphill battle, the House is now expected to vote as early as Tuesday on the catchall spending measure and an estimated $30 billion for Afghanistan and some domestic military requirements. The bill would not initially include money for Iraq, until it makes its way to the Senate and faces the threat of a GOP filibuster. That is when Reid is expected to allow a vote on a Republican amendment to add the Iraq money.

The House is expected to accept the deal.

"Certainly the Senate remains an obstacle," said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami. "We hope the Senate takes up and passes the bill as approved by the House."