House Democrats press ahead with war funding bill

The Senate add-ons run squarely into a Bush veto threat and are likely to be rejected by Pelosi as well.

Pelosi's plan is to advance the war funding bill in an unusual process where it is broken into three separate pieces for votes in the House and Senate: war funding, anti-war policy provisions and domestic funding.

The idea is to allow anti-war Democrats to vote against the war funding -which Republicans will provide the votes to pass -while still ensuring the money goes out to support troops overseas. Democrats get to vote for restrictions on the war, but the provisions would never make it through the Senate to face a veto.

In a closed-door meeting Wednesday at the White House, Bush tried to rally support among House Republicans in his opposition to the Democratic war bill.

According to an official who attended, but was not authorized to speak on the record on the meeting, Bush said extending unemployment insurance at a time when unemployment was low was unprecedented. He also said he is open to expanding college aid for military veterans but preferred to deal with it in a separate bill.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who accompanied Bush in the early part of the meeting, told House Republicans that he would stand strong against any spending in the supplemental unrelated to the troops. "If you stick with us, we'll stick with you," he told the group.

But Democrats say Republicans would be foolish to support so much money for an unpopular war without addressing economic troubles at home.

"The American people are puzzled, perplexed and I think angry" that money is going toward Iraq when there are still emergencies inside the United States, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., told reporters.