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Iraq Transition

Senate leaders schedule weekend showdown on Iraq

Story Highlights

• Key test vote on Iraq resolution set for Saturday
• Democrats need 60 votes to overcome Republican procedural blocks
• Resolution objects to President Bush's plan to send additional troops to Iraq
• President Bush challenged Congress not to cut war funding
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Setting up a new showdown over Iraq, Senate Democratic leaders announced Thursday they will hold a key test vote Saturday on a resolution opposing President Bush's plan to send additional troops into combat.

Majority Leader Harry Reid said a Saturday session will take up a non-binding measure now before the House of Representatives.

The Saturday vote will be a procedural vote on whether the Senate should move on to a final vote on a resolution that expresses opposition to President Bush's plan to send an additional 21,500 combat troops to Iraq. (Watch Sen. Schumer "call [the Republicans'] bluff" Video)

Senate Republicans succeeded last week in blocking a vote on a similar resolution. Reid urged Senate Republicans to drop their procedural moves.

"We demand an up-or-down vote on the resolution that the House is debating as we speak," said Reid, D-Nevada. "The resolution says we support the troops and oppose the escalation of the presence in Iraq. We're determined to give our troops and the American people the debate they deserve."

House members are to vote on the proposal Friday. It expresses support for U.S. troops in Iraq, but states that Congress "disapproves" of Bush's troop increase. (Full story)

It was not clear whether Reid and his allies will get the 60 votes needed for the Senate to cut off debate on other matters and turn to the issue.

On February 5, all but two GOP senators voted to block debate on a non-binding resolution backed by most Democrats and several Republicans that would have expressed the Senate's opposition.

Republican leaders insisted that members get a chance to vote on two Republican alternatives, and that the process be conducted under rules that called for 60 votes to pass. (GOP blocks Senate vote on Iraq)

Published polls indicate a solid majority of the U.S. public opposes the Bush plan, and Democrats said the November election victories that put them in control of Congress show Americans want to wind down the nearly four-year-old war.

"This is a process where step by step by step, we ratchet up the pressure on the president and on his Republican colleagues in the House and Senate and force them to do what the American people want," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York.

Bush challenges Congress not to cut funding

Bush noted Thursday that the Senate recently confirmed the promotion of Gen. David Petraeus, the new commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, even as members criticized the strategy he was installed to pursue. Though he said lawmakers "have every right to express their opinion," he demanded they support an upcoming spending bill that would commit nearly $100 billion more to the war effort. (Watch President Bush challenge Congress not to cut war funding Video)

"Our men and women in uniform are counting on their elected leaders to provide them with the support they need to accomplish their mission," he said.

The House held a third day of debate on its resolution Thursday, with Republicans arguing that its passage would be a sign of weakness in the war against terrorism. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Missouri, said the measure contains "no positive suggestion whatsoever" for dealing with Iraq. (Full story)

"All that does is to encourage our enemies," he said. "Without any positive recommendation, this can only be viewed as something that strengthens our opponents' hands."

But Rep. Charles Gonzales, D-Texas, replied that "an escalation of the war is unwarranted, and is not in the best interest of our nation and our troops."


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Joined by Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Majority Leader Harry Reid announces the Senate will hold a key test vote Saturday on an Iraq resolution.

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