more on bush the obstructionist

Progress on Iraq funding bill stymied

WASHINGTON - Democratic congressional leaders on Friday offered the first concessions in a fight with President Bush over a spending bill for Iraq, but the White House turned them down.

The Democrats, in a meeting with Bush's top aides on Capitol Hill, said they would strip from an emergency appropriations measure billions of dollars in domestic spending. They also pledged to give Bush authority to waive compliance with a timetable on the war.

But no agreement emerged.

"To say I was disappointed in the meeting is an understatement," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

At stake is the more than $90 billion the president says is needed to cover the costs of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan through September. The Democratic-controlled Congress on May 1 sent Bush a bill that would have funded the war but also would have demanded that troops start coming home Oct. 1.

Bush swiftly rejected that bill, saying he would not accept any timetable on the war. He also said he was against any extraneous spending. Unable to override his veto, Democrats have been trying to find a way to pass a new bill by Memorial Day that funds the troops but still challenges Bush's Iraq policy.

Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi emerged from a closed-door meeting with White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten to say they had offered the concessions to no avail.

Bush has said he is open to setting standards for the Iraqi government to meet, but has not said whether he would accept consequences if Baghdad fails.

"It is clear that the difference between the president and Democrats is accountability," said Pelosi, D-Calif.

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Bush continues to be a completely unreasonable obstructionist who is defying the will of the American - and Iraqi - people while the Dems show good faith and continue to try to work with this temper-tantrum-throwing child. bush continues to show that he doesn't give a f'k about the troops of the American public - he only wants his way or he will hold his breath! Disgusting...