Senate Demos vow flood of anti-war bills

WASHINGTON — After Republicans blocked a Senate debate for a second time, Democrats said Saturday they'll drop efforts to pass a nonbinding resolution opposing President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq and instead will offer a flurry of anti-war legislation "just like in the days of Vietnam."

The tough talk came a day after the House of Representatives passed its own anti-Iraq resolution and as the GOP used a procedural vote to stop the Senate from taking a position on the 21,500-troop increase.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats would be "relentless."

"There will be resolution after resolution, amendment after amendment .., just like in the days of Vietnam," Schumer said. "The pressure will mount, the president will find he has no strategy — he will have to change his strategy — and the vast majority of our troops will be taken out of harm's way and come home."

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said: "We're going to move on to other things."

But with Democrats divided over whether to restrict funds for the Iraq war, and with the Senate unlikely to have the votes right now to buck Bush, the immediate success of the Democrats' plan seems difficult. Reid also declined to say exactly what the strategy might include.

Saturday's rare weekend vote was a political calculation by the Democratic majority, which delayed the start of a weeklong legislative recess to make it happen and called back senators who had left town.

Democrats had hoped that if enough Senate Republicans felt pressured by the House vote and with national polling showing support for the resolution, they might let a debate go ahead this time. If not, Democrats would have more ammunition to criticize Republicans for backing an unpopular war.

Saturday's 56-to-34 vote fell short of the 60-vote majority the Senate requires to move to debate. But this time, seven Republicans joined Democrats in favoring a debate, five more than in the earlier vote.

Associated Press reported that neither Sen. Orrin Hatch nor Sen. Bob Bennett, both R-Utah, voted.

Republicans who voted against debating the resolution maintained in both instances that they were objecting to Reid's refusal to consider a different resolution supporting the troops but taking no position on sending more to Baghdad. Reid says that resolution is intended to muddy the debate.