House using budget to press Iraq

WASHINGTON — In a bid to pressure Iraq's government and President Bush, the House of Representatives voted Thursday to release only about half the $96 billion that Bush requested for the military through September, holding back the rest unless Iraq meets goals by mid-July for a fair political system and an end to factional violence.

The measure passed the House by 221-205, with most Republicans voting against it. More importantly, it doesn't have enough support to clear the Senate, and even if it did, Bush vowed Thursday to veto it.

Utah's Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson voted for the measure. Republicans Rob Bishop and Chris Cannon voted against.

The real point of the measure is that it frames the House's bargaining position for the final war-funding bill, which must be worked out with the Senate and the White House. All sides hope to reach agreement on final terms by Memorial Day.

Earlier Thursday, the House rejected by 171-255 a bill calling for troop withdrawal from Iraq in nine months.

Bush said Thursday for the first time that benchmarks for Iraqi progress could be part of the spending bill.

"It makes sense to have benchmarks as a part of our discussion on how to go forward," he said. However, he didn't spell out consequences if they weren't met and said he'd veto the House bill if Congress sent it to him because its split-funding scheme would hamper war management.

The House bill's benchmarks for progress would require the Iraqi government to disarm violent sectarian militias, pass a law that would distribute oil revenues among all Iraqi groups, make political changes to address the concerns of minority groups and hold provincial elections.

Iraq's government has missed its own deadlines on all these measures so far.

On Thursday in the Shiite Muslim-dominated Iraqi parliament, followers of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said they'd won majority support for a bill calling for a timeline for withdrawing non-Iraqi troops.

The White House downplayed the development.

"The prime minister, the president and the vice presidents of Iraq have made it clear that they think U.S. troops are needed in Iraq," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council. "We've heard these claims before (from Sadr supporters), but they rarely materialize."