A Senate committee approved a $122 billion measure Thursday financing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but also defied President George W. Bush by calling on him to pull U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by early next year.The bill, approved by a voice vote, is similar to one the House of Representatives began debating Thursday. Both measures have drawn veto threats from the White House, which has said Congress must allow more time for the U.S. troop increase in Iraq to work.
Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee had hoped to delete the withdrawal language. But facing likely defeat, they decided to postpone that effort until the full Senate takes up the spending measure, as early as Monday.
"I don't believe that we, from Washington, can judge the conditions on the battlefield," said Sen. Christopher Bond, a Republican.
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