Democrats weigh goals for resolution on Iraq policy
Posted 2/7/2007 10:08 PM ET
By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — For more than a year, Rep. Howard Coble, a conservative Republican from North Carolina, has been an outspoken critic of the Iraq war. Even so, he's waiting for specifics before he decides whether he'll back a House resolution opposing President Bush's plans to send more troops to Baghdad.
"His concern is that it's going to turn into an anti-Bush resolution," said Ed McDonald, Coble's chief of staff. "It if turns into Bush-bashing, he may vote against it."
Coble, who urged the president in a Jan. 4 letter not to send more troops to Iraq, represents the dilemma facing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democratic leaders as they draft the measure that the House is set to debate next week.
There's little doubt about the outcome when the resolution comes up for a vote, which Democrats say could come next Thursday. "It will be virtually impossible for us to defeat it," conceded Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida, the chairman of the House Republican Conference.
The question is how broad a bipartisan majority the resolution will attract. "It totally depends on what the language is," said Putnam, who backs the president's plan.
Democrats have differences of opinion, too. On Tuesday night, senior House Democrats were huddling in an attempt to come up with wording measured enough to attract Republicans such as Coble, but also tough enough to satisfy Democrats who want to issue more than a symbolic protest.
"I came here to do something that really matters," said Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., a member of the Armed Services Committee. "Put members on the spot. Those kids in Iraq are sure on the spot."
Appearing Wednesday with Iraq veterans opposed to the war, Pelosi said the resolution "will have clarity, and it will have concision," but declined to say whether she'd give more weight to making a stronger statement or attracting bipartisan support.
House Democratic leaders had been looking to their Senate colleagues to help them avoid walking such a legislative tightrope by passing a resolution of disapproval drafted by a bipartisan group of senators. Its sponsors included Virginia's John Warner, a senior Republican with credentials likely to attract other members of his party with concerns about the war. That Senate resolution remained tied in procedural knots Wednesday.
However, Warner announced that he intends to resurrect his resolution, blocked this week when most Republican senators — including Warner — voted with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., against allowing a vote.
Warner and six other Republicans indicated they may change their position in a letter to McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. The senators urged the debate to begin. "The current stalemate is unacceptable to us," they wrote. Besides Warner, those signing the letter were Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, George Voinovich of Ohio and Gordon Smith of Oregon.
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