WASHINGTON (AFP) — Republicans in the US Senate on Friday blocked a bid by majority Democrats to enforce the start of large-scale troop withdrawals from Iraq in exchange for 50 billion dollars in war funding.
The vote means the Democrats will likely stall on President George W. Bush's request for more war funding until next year, after repeatedly failing to force him this year, to end the US involvement in the four-year war.
The Senate voted 53-45 in favor of the bill, seven votes short of the 60 votes it needed to overcome Republican blocking tactics in the closely-divided 100-seat chamber.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Thursday that if the money was not approved, funding for the war would run out by February.
The Pentagon now looks set to be forced to dip into its operating budget to pay for the war, a move Gates said would spark layoffs of thousands of civilian employees and defense contractors.
Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid had warned earlier in the week that if the bill failed, Bush could expect no more money for the war this year.
But he refused to categorically rule out taking up the issue again when Congress returns to work in December after a two week Thanksgiving holiday break.
"We're going to watch this very closely," Reid said.
Friday's vote prolonged a game of brinkmanship over the war funding, and marked the latest victory by Bush and his Republican allies over Democratic attempts to change war strategy.
"I think Congress should send this money, allow these troops to get the equipment they need," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.
"There's no reason why they should not get the money."
The emergency budget would have provided only four months of funding for the war -- a 50 billion dollar chunk of the 196 billion dollars requested by Bush.
It called for troop withdrawals to begin within 30 days and set a goal of December 15, 2008, for the pullback of most combat troops to be completed, and outlawed the use of torture by US government agencies.
Republicans put forward what they call a "clean" funding bill, stripped of troop withdrawal deadlines, which was also defeated.
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Joseph Biden and Barack Obama flew back overnight from Las Vegas, Nevada to back the bill.
But one of their rivals Democrat Senator Christopher Dodd voted against it, reasoning that it only set a "goal" for completing troops withdrawals from Iraq, rather than a "firm and enforceable deadline."
If they continue to tie funding to a withdrawal deadline Bush refuses to accept, Democrats risk being accused by Republicans of turning their backs on troops in the field as Christmas approaches.
But they are calculating that Bush and Republican lawmakers will pay a political price for prolonging the unpopular war, despite some signs of military progress in Iraq.
"The president and his enablers in Congress are so afraid of being held accountable for this disastrous war policy that they'd rather leave our men and women in uniform empty-handed than work to change course in Iraq," Reid said.
Republicans, however, predicted that Democrats would be forced to return to the funding issue in December.
"We cannot continue to condition funding for the troops on the Democratic proposals on withdrawal dates that all of our military leaders have said are not only unrealistic, but would do harm to the ability of our troops to carry out their mission," said Republican Senator Jon Kyl.
Kyl accused Democrats of playing to their vehemently anti-war left-wing base voters.
"I understand the politics of that, but at some point, the adults have to take over and ensure that our troops get the money. That's what has to happen," he said.
Bush, who has repeatedly outmuscled Democrats attempting to tie his hands on the war, had threatened to veto the measure in the unlikely event it reached his desk.
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