House blocks Iraq war money and sets pullout

House blocks Iraq war money and sets pullout plan

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives, in a surprise and
largely symbolic move, defeated legislation on Thursday to fund the war in Iraq
for another year.

But it also sent the Senate a controversial troop withdrawal plan that will
give that chamber an opportunity to restore the money for waging the conflict,
which is deeply unpopular with the public.

With a large group of anti-war Democrats voting against giving the Pentagon
$162.5 billion to keep fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through mid-2009,
the House defeated the measure by a vote of 149-141.

Meanwhile, 132 Republicans voted "present" -- meaning neither "yes" nor "no"
-- on the legislation, which brought another difficult debate about U.S. war
policy just as the presidential and congressional elections are heating up and
Republicans fear large losses in November.

House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio told reporters after the vote
that his members wanted a bill that only provides war funds requested by
President George W. Bush, without any conditions for withdrawing or unrelated
spending.

Shortly after the House vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee granted
Bush's full request for war funding. But it also included non-binding language
seeking to change the mission of U.S. troops in Iraq, by June 2009, from combat
to counter-terrorism and training Iraqi forces.

The Senate panel's bill also would spend about $9 billion more than Bush
requested for a variety of programs, which could draw a White House veto. And it
inserted other thorny provisions, such as providing $5 million to open a U.S.
consulate in Lhasa, Tibet, where China has been accused of human rights
abuses.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told reporters he
expects the Senate to restore the war funding and give House Republicans another
chance to approve it, before existing war funds are depleted by next month or
so.

The White House has threatened to veto setting dates for withdrawing combat
troops from Iraq as part of a war-funding bill. Bush vetoed such a measure a
year ago.

"The legislation provides for a new direction in Iraq that will end this sad
chapter in America's history and bring home our brave men and women in uniform,"
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, told reporters before the
vote.

But in the face of the veto threat and Senate Republican opposition, even
some House Democratic leaders acknowledged that their troop withdrawal plan
likely would be abandoned before war funds are sent to Bush for his
approval.

The House bill "seeks to tie the hands of our military commanders and impose
an artificial timeline for withdrawal," the White House said.

MORE THAN $800 BILLION

Under the House-passed plan, U.S. combat troops, who have been fighting in
Iraq since early 2003, would begin withdrawing within one month of the
legislation being enacted and set a goal of completing the withdrawals by the
end of 2009.

Assuming Congress eventually delivers the new funds, more than $800 billion
will have been appropriated for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with most of
the money going for Iraq.

By proposing to send the Defense Department enough money to fund the wars
through mid-2009, Democratic leaders said they would have given the next
president, who takes office in January, time to come up with his or her own war
plans.

But the move also was aimed at eliminating the need for Congress to pass more
war money shortly before the November congressional and presidential elections,
in which the unpopular war is expected to play a prominent role.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Thursday the
five-year-old war in Iraq can be won in four more years. The Arizona senator had
earlier talked about a U.S. military commitment that could continue for a
century.

The House bill would also give more financial help to war veterans to attend
college. Democrats want to pay the cost -- $51.6 billion over 10 years -- by
imposing a 0.5 percent tax on individuals with gross incomes over $500,000 and
couples making over $1 million.

Republicans said the tax would hurt small business owners.

Amid an economic downturn, the bill also would continue jobless benefits for
an additional 13 weeks. In states where unemployment is highest, another 13
weeks of benefits would be added for a total cost of $11 billion over 10
years.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and Thomas Ferraro; editing by
Patricia Zengerle)