WASHINGTON (AP) - The Democratic-controlled House will vote next week on a nonbinding measure opposing President Bush's decision to dispatch additional troops to Iraq, officials said Tuesday, hastening a postelection clash between Congress and commander in chief. The precise nature of the measure remains to be determined, the officials said, although Brendan Daly, a spokeswoman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said, it will be "our opposition to the surge" in troops.
The Pentagon is in the midst of implementing Bush's order to raise troop levels by 21,500, part of a plan to help quell sectarian violence in Baghdad.
Bush's revised strategy has sparked strong opposition among Democrats, and officials said that Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., had both pledged to their rank-and-file that next week's vote would merely be the first attempt to pressure the president to shift course in the war. Other legislation will be binding, they said.
Under House rules, Democratic leaders have the authority to advance a measure to the floor for three days of debate and a vote.
That stands in contrast to the Senate, where Republicans have so far blocked an attempt by Democrats to hold a full-fledged debate on a war that has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 U.S. troops.
House Democratic leaders charted their course as Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a Senate committee that U.S. forces might be able to start leaving Iraq before the end of the year—if daunting conditions including subdued violence and political reconciliation are met.
Gates told lawmakers the buildup in troops is "not the last chance" to succeed in Iraq and "I would be irresponsible if I weren't thinking about what the alternatives might be."
Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he said, "We at this point are planning for success."
