Reply #16: Unusual Coalition Could Bring Defeat In War Funds Vote

[Purveyor]

(03-02) 04:00 PST Washington -- The House minority leader threatened Thursday to get his members to vote against a $96.3 billion spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan if Democrats persist in plans to attach conditions to the money that would tell President Bush how to conduct the wars.

The statement by Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, raises the intriguing possibility that unless Speaker Nancy Pelosi can devise a consensus plan that can unite her Democratic Party members, the Iraq spending bill could be scuttled by an unlikely coalition of pro-Bush Republicans and the most anti-war Democrats.

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The Associated Press reported late Thursday night that House Democratic leaders have decided to back Murtha's idea and require troops to come home from Iraq within six months if that country's leaders fail to meet promises to help reduce violence there.

"We're going to report out" a war spending bill "that's responsive to the will of the voters last November and brings our troops home as soon and safely as possible," Rep. James Moran, D-Va., told the Associated Press.

Pelosi has said the legislation, whatever its shape, would go before the House Appropriations Committee next week.

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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/02/MNGR0OE3131.DTL