WASHINGTON, March 23 — The House of Representatives voted today, by the narrowest possible margin and after an unusually emotional debate, to set a timetable for bringing American troops home from Iraq.
The bill received 218 votes in favor, the minimum needed for passage in the 435-seat chamber. There were 212 votes opposed. The Democratic leadership held the voting open for two additional minutes past the originally scheduled 15 to lock up the majority. Vote-counters had predicted beforehand that the outcome would be very close.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the legislation, which took the form of an emergency spending bill, “a giant step to end the war and responsibly redeploy our troops out of Iraq” and concentrate on Afghanistan, “where the war on terrorism is.”
A few hours before the vote, Ms. Pelosi summoned Democrats to a closed-door meeting in the Capitol basement, hoping to impress them one more time with the importance of the proposed legislation, the Democrats’ boldest step yet to try to end the war.
“It’s historic,” Ms. Pelosi said in a brief interview, “for our party and our country.”
No, Republicans countered on the House floor. Several said the measure would amount to micromanaging the war, to the detriment of military commanders and front-line troops. “Its prevailing tone is one of defeat,” Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the minority whip, said of the legislation.
The debate was highly emotional, with lawmakers applauding loudly at several points. There were occasional outbursts from the House gallery, which was packed with spectators.
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The withdrawal timetable provision, which calls for most American troops to be out of Iraq by Sept. 1, 2008, is part of a bill to provide about $100 billion to finance the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill would also impose a series of performance benchmarks, for Baghdad and for Washington, to show progress in the new Iraq. Withdrawal would be required even sooner if progress on those benchmarks could not be demonstrated.
Passage of the legislation by no means signals that it will emerge from the full Congress, since the Democrats’ majority in the House (there are 233 Democrats, to 201 Republicans) is too small to overcome a veto by President Bush, which the White House says would be certain if it ever reached the President’s desk. Besides, the Senate is about to debate its own Iraq-pullout measure, which differs in substantial ways.
The House has done it--they passed a bill specifying a withdrawal timetable, complete with benchmarks and penalties. Of course, this withdrawal timetable was placed into a $100 billion appropriations bill to finance the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the bill narrowly passed the House. It will certainly never get over President Bush's veto.
The important point about this bill is that it lays even more groundwork in the coming 2008 election debate on Iraq between the Democrats and Republicans. When you look at the polls here, you will find that Americans both oppose the Bush troop surge plan, and they are favoring a Democratic Congress withdrawal timetable. The Republicans, who consistently support the Bush war in Iraq, are going to have to face those American voters in 2008. They are going to have to explain their votes against the non-binding resolutions and withdrawal timetables that have taken place over the past three months. This is where the debate is heading for 2008. And at the moment, the GOP is still goose-stepping to the Bush administration's orders.
Now we'll see what happens to the Senate debate and vote on the withdrawal timetable.
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