Out of Iraq Dems balk at new House plan

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http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/out-of-iraq-dems-balk-at-new-plan-2007-07-26.html

Out of Iraq Dems balk at new plan
By Mike Soraghan
July 26, 2007

Anti-war leaders Wednesday signaled their opposition to Rep. John Murtha’s (D-Pa.) plan to call for withdrawal of troops from Iraq without a firm deadline — indicating that the measure might require Republican votes to pass.

“We cannot go backward,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) a leader of the Out of Iraq caucus. “If we are to build on the slow, painful process we’ve been engaged in, we need a date certain for withdrawal.”

Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, drafted the withdrawal plan to overcome the opposition of Republicans and centrist Democrats who say they oppose “arbitrary” deadlines for withdrawal.

“It doesn’t give them the excuse to vote against it because there’s not a deadline,” Murtha said after the Appropriations Committee sent the defense bill to the floor. On the same day, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill, 399-24, forbidding the establishment of permanent bases in Iraq.

Murtha has also questioned whether troops can be withdrawn within the six-month time frame laid out in some of the withdrawal legislation that has passed the House.

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House Democrats push new withdrawal bill

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer 51 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - House Democrats have drafted new Iraq legislation they hope will appeal to Republicans fed up with the war: Start withdrawing troops in two months but leave it up to President Bush to decide when to complete the pullout.

The vote will come next week, as members take up a $460 billion bill covering military spending for 2008. Another vote could come again in September, after Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus delivers a long-anticipated assessment on the war and Congress considers a $142 billion measure needed to finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"This is big time," Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said of the upcoming fall debate. "When you get to September, this is history. This is when we're going to have a real confrontation with the president trying to work things out."

The House has passed similar anti-war measures in the past, but has been unable to push the legislation through the Senate, where Democrats hold a slimmer majority and Republicans have routinely blocked such bills from advancing.

Most recently, the House approved legislation that would have required troop withdrawals to begin this November and finish by April 1.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070725/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq ;_ylt=Aqtk7QWUmc4IefTrXAFvVZas0NUE

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