The U.S. congress won't vote on Iraqi policy before its summer recess beginning Friday, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
That is because Democrats have decided to pulled back from a final series of votes on Iraq before the recess, in the hope that a month spent at home with voters frustrated by the course of the war would persuade more Republicans to join Democrats in supporting a troop withdrawal, according to the report.
The strategy, some analysts said, reflects a calculation by Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate that the best approach politically is to deny Republicans the opportunity to put themselves on record against the current policy in Iraq, leaving them to explain to voters why they have steadfastly backed the Bush administration on the war.
At the same time, antiwar groups allied with Democrats plan to use the next month to pound more than 60 key Republican lawmakers at home through a campaign of protests, neighborhood walks, yard signs and media spots as part of an "Iraq Summer" campaign to try to draw the legislators away from the administration.
To bolster that approach, Democrats have decided not to allow votes on emerging Iraq proposals --including some that were attracting bipartisan support --though senior Congressional staff members said the agenda remained somewhat in flux.
Still, it appeared certain that consideration of one such plan, by Rep. Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat from Hawaii, will be put off until September at least.
That plan, approved by the House Armed Services Committee last week by a wide, bipartisan margin, calls for a report from the administration within 60 days on plans to reduce United States forces in Iraq.
Source: Xinhua
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