2.09.2007
Democrats Set House Debate to Rebuke Bush Over Iraq Policy (NYTimes.com)
By JEFF ZELENY
Published: February 9, 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 — House Democratic leaders persuaded members of their party on Thursday to limit the scope of an Iraq war resolution next week to a simple repudiation of President Bush’s troop buildup plan, hoping to temporarily set aside divisive decisions over war financing and troop redeployments.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, and other party leaders met privately for more than an hour with other Democratic lawmakers. They sought to reassure Democrats that the symbolic, nonbinding resolution devised to rebuke Mr. Bush was a first step — but not a final one — toward asserting Congressional powers on Iraq.
After winning control of Congress, in part because of discontent over the Iraq war, Democrats are eager to send a strong signal of disapproval to the White House. To make the proposal palatable to at least some Republicans, the Democrats said their resolution would express support for the troops, but reject the plan to send 21,500 more of them to Iraq.
The people “called for a new direction,” Ms. Pelosi said, “and no place do they want that direction to be more clear than in the war in Iraq.”
(More ... New York Times > Washington)
Published: February 9, 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 — House Democratic leaders persuaded members of their party on Thursday to limit the scope of an Iraq war resolution next week to a simple repudiation of President Bush’s troop buildup plan, hoping to temporarily set aside divisive decisions over war financing and troop redeployments.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, and other party leaders met privately for more than an hour with other Democratic lawmakers. They sought to reassure Democrats that the symbolic, nonbinding resolution devised to rebuke Mr. Bush was a first step — but not a final one — toward asserting Congressional powers on Iraq.
After winning control of Congress, in part because of discontent over the Iraq war, Democrats are eager to send a strong signal of disapproval to the White House. To make the proposal palatable to at least some Republicans, the Democrats said their resolution would express support for the troops, but reject the plan to send 21,500 more of them to Iraq.
The people “called for a new direction,” Ms. Pelosi said, “and no place do they want that direction to be more clear than in the war in Iraq.”
(More ... New York Times > Washington)
Labels: Congress, Iraq, New York Times
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