Levin, Republicans seek halt to Iraq troop buildup: 01/17/07
By Gordon Trowbridge
Detroit News
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., enlisted Republican support Wednesday in his effort to stop President Bush’s proposed troop increase in Iraq, joining with Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel and Democrat Joseph Biden in proposing a nonbinding resolution that would register Congress’ disapproval of the plan.
The resolution is the least confrontational of several legislative proposals aimed at halting the plan Bush introduced last week. Unlike other proposals — including one introduced Wednesday by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and another idea floated by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. — it would not force the president to keep troop levels in Iraq below a certain number, and it does not threaten to cut off funding for the troop increase.
But it fits with Levin’s strategy, and that of other senior senators of both parties, to forge a compromise across party lines. Levin has said repeatedly he thinks the best way to change the president’s mind is to maximize the number of Republicans who joinDemocrats in opposing the president’s plan.
Hagel, R-Neb., standing beside Levin and Biden at a Capitol press conference, is among as many as 10 Republican senators who oppose the troop increase. Last week, Hagel called the Bush plan the most serious U.S. foreign policy mistake since Vietnam.
A bipartisan rejection of the troop increase “will have a major impact,” said Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Biden, D-Del., said he will bring the measure next week to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he chairs. Biden hinted that he and others might support tougher measures recommended by other Democrats “if this resolution is ignored” by the president.
“I cannot believe the president of the United States would not pay attention to a bipartisan resolution passed by the U.S. Senate,” Biden said.
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