LAT: DEMOCRATS PLAN A CAPITOL ASSAULT OVER IRAQ: SUMMER OF REPEATED VOTES

[DeepModem Mom]

Democrats plan a Capitol assault over Iraq
Summer plans include new withdrawal legislation and more pressure on GOP lawmakers.
By Noam N. Levey, Times Staff Writer
June 4, 2007

....In addition to pressuring Republicans, an aggressive legislative agenda also may be crucial for Democrats as they work to recover from party leaders' decision last month to abandon a withdrawal timeline....

"To keep the faith, they are going to have to show that they are going to keep up the pressure," said MoveOn.org Executive Director Eli Pariser, whose group has helped lead the grass-roots drive to end the war....

***

Senate Democratic leaders are planning to consider new withdrawal proposals in just a few weeks, when the chamber begins debating the 2008 defense authorization bill, which outlines military spending priorities for the fiscal year beginning in October.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said he planned to propose an amendment that would require the president to begin withdrawing U.S. forces within 120 days of the bill's enactment.

And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who has become one of the most ardent champions of bringing U.S. forces home, may revive a proposal by Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.) to end funding for the war.

In the House, Pelosi has signaled her interest in considering legislation in the coming weeks to repeal the authorization for the war that Congress passed in 2002 — a potentially powerful repudiation of the administration's war strategy....

***

By next month — when Bush is required under the most recent war funding bill to give Congress a report on the Iraqi government's progress on a series of political benchmarks — the House will probably be considering the 2008 defense appropriations bill. That could provide another vehicle for Democratic amendments calling for a withdrawal.

Senate consideration of that bill would follow.

By August, the Senate also may consider its own legislation to revoke authorization of the war, which is being championed by presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), among others....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-congress4jun04,0,5769671.story?coll=la-home-center

[Greeby]

1. Hey, we could have used this six months ago

:eyes:

[DeepModem Mom]

2. MAYBE, they're listening now. nt

[frylock]

3. yawn..

wake me if something happens.