It was very much a vote along party lines, with only two Republicans backing the withdrawal effort. The House needed a two-thirds majority vote to pass a bill that would override the President’s veto and bring American military forces home. Unfortunately, 222-203 was sixty two votes short of halting the veto.
Bush, defending his decision to send more soldiers, in his ever so eloquent manner, had this to say: “The question is who ought to make that decision? The Congress or the commanders? And as you know, my position is clear - I'm the commander guy.”
The “commander guy” objected to the bill as affecting his ability to “administer” the war - "in a way that infringes upon the powers vested in the presidency." Republicans, while siding with Bush against the legislation nonetheless showed signs of impatience with the war in Iraq, which has cost the lives of well over three thousand American soldiers.
Democrats themselves, fuming over their loss nevertheless seemed prepared to make concessions, such as no longer requesting a specific time goal for troop withdrawal.
The bill drafted by the Democrats set a date no later than October 1st of this year to begin removing soldiers from Iraq and would have wrapped up six months later.
Although it seems unlikely that the Democrats would try to pass similar legislation a second time, Speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi had this to say: "Make no mistake, Democrats are committed to ending this war" and added, "We hope to do so in unison with the president of the United States." She must be referring to whoever is the President in 2008. Unless of course the “commander guy” amends/suspends the constitution or something…
