AP: Bush urges Congress to embrace Iraq policy

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070124/ap_on_go_pr_wh/state_of_union

Bush urges Congress to embrace Iraq policy

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent 32 minutes ago

WASHINGTON -
President Bush wants Congress to give his controversial strategy for
Iraq a chance to work. Defiant Democrats say they'll give it a vote, and use their newly won control over the House and Senate to oppose the deployment of an additional 21,500 troops.

"And we will continue to hold him accountable for changing course in Iraq," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) said Tuesday night in a blunt response issued before the applause had fully faded on Bush's State of the Union address.


.........

Bush arranged a trip Wilmington, Del., for the day after his speech, eager to plug his energy proposals at a DuPont Co. facility where scientists conduct research on the use of plants in the production of biofuels such as celluosic ethanol.

But Democrats determined they would keep the public spotlight on the war, with the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee expected to approve a nonbinding measure that rejects Bush's planned troop increase as "not in the national interest of the United States."

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1. Pelosi and Reid responded within minutes.: below

In his own remarks, Bush was unequivocal.

"Whatever you voted for, you did not vote for failure," the president told lawmakers, many of whom were in Congress four years ago when he asked them to approve the invasion of Iraq. "Our country is pursuing a new strategy in Iraq, and I ask you to give it a chance to work. And I ask you to support our troops in the field — and those on their way."

Pelosi and Reid responded within minutes.

"While the president continues to ignore the will of the country, Congress will not ignore this president's failed policy. His plan will receive an up-or-down vote in both the House and Senate, and we will continue to hold him accountable for changing course in Iraq," they said.

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2. AP: Democrats put the burden of Iraq on Bush

Democrats put the burden of Iraq on Bush


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070124/ap_on_go_pr_wh/stat...

Democrats put the burden of Iraq on Bush

By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer Wed Jan 24, 3:04 AM ET

WASHINGTON - After all the pomp and rhetoric,
President Bush wasn't about to budge the new Democratic congressional majority from its two primary pursuits — isolating him on
Iraq and seizing control of the nation's domestic agenda.


The bipartisan applause that greeted his appeal for support of "our troops in the field — and those on their way" belied the war anxiety that has settled over the Capitol. Bipartisan opposition to his troop-boosting plan for Iraq was jelling in the Senate on Tuesday even as Bush prepared to make the trek to the Capitol to deliver his State of the Union address.

"While the president continues to ignore the will of the country, Congress will not ignore this president's failed policy," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) said in a joint statement following Bush's address............

On the home front, Democrats want to be the ones who set the course toward goals such as affordable health care, energy independence and correcting climate change, even though the president embraced them Tuesday night with proposed cures of his own......