Bush intensifies drumbeat for spending bill without troop limits
White House hints that non-Iraq related additions might be an area where the president and Democrats could compromise.
President Bush on Monday demanded that Congress send him a new war supplemental spending bill, using some of his most dramatic language yet to illustrate the need to win in Iraq.
"The consequences of failure in Iraq would be death and destruction in the Middle East and here in America," Bush told military families at the White House.
"To protect our citizens at home, we must defeat the terrorists," he said. "We defeat them by staying on the offense and we defeat them by helping young democracies defeat their ideology of hate."
With both the House and the Senate passing supplemental spending bills he has promised to veto, Bush spelled out conditions for legislation he could sign: "I am willing to discuss any way forward that does not hamstring our troops, set an artificial timetable for withdrawal, and spend billions on projects not related to the war," Bush said. "The American people expect their leaders in Washington to find common ground; but they also expect the Congress and the White House to work together to make sure our troops get funded quickly."
White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino appeared to hint that the added spending in the bill might be an area where Bush and Democrats could compromise, using softer language to describe Bush's feelings about spending than for other provisions. While pointedly saying the president "is not going to accept" a timetable for withdrawal, she said he is "really disappointed" about the non-Iraq related spending in the bill.
While the White House has repeatedly said a meeting Wednesday with congressional leaders would not become a negotiating session on the supplemental, Bush suggested Monday that the gathering would be a chance to "talk out our differences."
Slamming Democrats for putting withdrawal timetables into their legislation, Bush said he hoped that during the meeting Democrats "will drop their unreasonable demands for a precipitous withdrawal."
The White House has begun a daily drumbeat marking each day that passes since Bush first sent Congress his supplemental request. Bush noted that Monday is day 70.