US House OKs Iraq funds in installments

Washington: Democrats in the US House of Representatives defied President George W. Bush on Thursday and passed an Iraq war funds bill providing only enough money to continue combat for two or three months, without a guarantee of future funding.

The 221-205 vote was largely along party lines and sent the measure to a cool reception in the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democart-Nevada, is seeking a compromise with the White House and Republicans.

Under growing political pressure from Republicans, Bush coupled his veto threat with a sign of flexibility.

Visiting the Pentagon, he said he was willing to sign a military money bill that includes political and military goals for the Iraqi government.

"Time's running out, because the longer we wait the more strain we're going to put on the military," said the president, who previously had insisted on what he termed a "clean" war funding bill.

The bill givesBush $42.8 billion in emergency military funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But in a Democratic drive to bring the four-year-old Iraq war to an end, the bill would withhold an additional $52.8 billion until late July, after Bush submits progress reports. Lawmakers then would decide whether to use this second batch of money to continue combat, or bring US troops home.

Bush wants the nearly $100 billion up front and without conditions. "I'll veto the bill if it's this haphazard, piecemeal funding," Bush said earlier in the day.

On May 1, Bush rejected a Democratic-backed bill that would have started US troop withdrawals from Iraq by October 1, with a non-binding goal of removing all combat soldiers by March 31.

Senators appear more willing to give Bush the $100 billion at once. Still unknown is how far the Senate

might go in setting binding "benchmarks" to measure progress in Iraq.

Bush said he'll back benchmarks but he and congressional Republicans do not want to spell out actions the US would take if Iraqi progress in securing the country falls short.

Arguing for the House's latest war-funding plan, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said, "The president of the United States himself has stated that our commitment in Iraq is not open ended. That's what this legislation says."

Representative Jerry Lewis of California, the senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, countered that Democrats' reluctance to fully fund the troops "clearly calls into question their commitment to men and women in uniform."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in a letter to Congress, said the House Democrats' two-step funding plan "would cause significant disruptions to the effective and efficient operation" of the military. He said the prolonged fight with Congress over war funding also "negatively impacts our forces in the field" by delaying mine-resistant vehicles and other combat equipment.

While most Republicans voted against the House bill, some have begun to put Bush on notice that without a turnaround in Iraq by September or October, their support for continuing the war might not be guaranteed.

Lawmakers from both political parties have been particularly irked over tentative plans by Iraq's parliament to take a long summer break, with US troops still in danger.