House, Senate compromise on war funding bill

Well, the House-Senate negotiations have reached a compromise on the Iraq war funding bill. Here is the Washington Post article:

House and Senate negotiators reached agreement yesterday on war-funding legislation that would begin bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq as early as July, setting a goal of ending U.S. combat operations by no later than March.

The $124 billion bill, slated for final votes in the House and Senate tomorrow and Thursday, sets up a veto clash with President Bush by week's end. Some congressional Democrats had considered making advisory all dates for withdrawing U.S. troops in the hopes of persuading Bush to sign the bill, which Democratic leaders said provides $96 billion -- more than the White House requested -- for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But with the president standing firm on his plans to veto any language on the timing of the war, Democratic leaders stuck to binding dates for initial troop pullouts.

And here are the details of this war funding bill:

The legislation would maintain House-passed language that set strict requirements for resting, training and equipping troops. But they would grant the president the authority to waive those restrictions, as long as he publicly justified the waivers.

The bill also establishes benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet, including the creation of a program to disarm militias. The benchmarks also require reductions in sectarian violence, the easing of rules that purged the government of all former Baath Party members, and passage of an oil-revenue-sharing law.

Unless the Bush administration determines by July 1 that those benchmarks are being met, troops would begin coming home immediately, with a goal of completing those withdrawals by the end of the year. If benchmarks are being met, troops would begin coming home no later than Oct. 1, with a goal of completing the troop pullout by April 1.

After combat forces are withdrawn, some troops could remain to protect U.S. facilities and diplomats, pursue terrorist organizations and train and equip Iraqi security forces.

The bill does not say how fast or how large troop withdrawals would have to be, and it would allow troops to stay for training and counterterrorism missions. Democrats said that showed they were trying to force a change in strategy, not an end to the war.

The bottom line here is that President Bush will veto this bill--just as he has promised he would. Bush wants a "blank check" for this war funding bill. The Congressional Democrats have given Bush a war funding bill that contains benchmarks and withdrawal timetables if those benchmarks are failed. The Texas-style showdown between the president and the congressional Democrats is finally here.