***BREAKING*** DEMS IN SENATE SAY NO TO COMPROMISE

[cali]

Democrats Won't Temper Iraq Legislation
By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

(09-18) 13:15 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --


After weeks of suggesting Democrats would temper their approach to Iraq legislation in a bid to attract more Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared abruptly Tuesday that he had no plans to do so.


The Democratic leader said he will call for a vote this month on several anti-war proposals, including one by Sen. Carl Levin that would insist President Bush end U.S. combat next summer. The proposals would be mandatory and not leave Bush wiggle room, said Reid, D-Nev.


"There (are) no goals. It's all definite timelines," he told reporters of the planned legislation.


Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Monday night he would have agreed to turn the summer deadline into a nonbinding goal if doing so meant attracting enough votes to pass. Several Republicans have said they are uneasy about Bush's war strategy but do not like the idea of setting a firm timetable on troop withdrawals.


Reid's hardline stance reflects a calculation by Democrats that Levin's proposal probably would have failed either way. Democrats hold a thin majority in the Senate and similar legislation has repeatedly fallen short of the 60 votes needed to break a GOP filibuster.

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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?
f=/n/a/2007/09/18/national/w131138D56.DTL


Yeah, I know it's not cutting off funding. Still, it's a step.