Military

US Congress ties budget for war to withdrawal timetable

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New York, Dec 20, IRNA
US-Congress-Budget
The House of Representatives approved another dlrs 70 billion for war trying hard to tie the budget to a timetable to end the war in Iraq.

The money was part of a dlrs 555 billion measure that funds the US agencies for the 2008 budget year.

It passed on a 272-142 vote, more than a month after Democratic leaders had refused to approve more money for Iraq without requiring President Bush to begin withdrawing US troops from the nearly five-year-old conflict.

Democrats credit their opposition to the widely unpopular war for the 2006 election victories that brought them to power in both houses of Congress.

But their efforts to end the war have foundered all year in the Senate, where Bush's Republican allies have successfully used filibusters to kill them.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat from Nevada, said Democrats would continue trying to bring an end to the conflict.

Rep. David Obey, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said Democrats "have tried every way known to man to bring this war to a conclusion."
"I think it is clear that if the nation wants a change in direction with respect to this war, it has only two options," said Obey, D- Wisconsin.

"One is to elect more progressive voices in the United States Senate, and second is to elect a president who has a different set of priorities domestically and a different vision for America's involvement in the Middle East -- and especially in Iraq." 1416**1412