Senate blocks Democrats' bid to give U.S. troops more time at home

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Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Posted on Wed, Sep. 19, 2007
Senate blocks Democrats' bid to give U.S. troops more time at home
Renee Schoof | McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: September 19, 2007 07:13:47 PM

WASHINGTON — In another defeat for Democrats trying to change President Bush's Iraq policy, the Senate on Wednesday blocked legislation requiring that members of the active-duty military must spend at least as much time in the United States as they've spent in Iraq or Afghanistan before they can be sent back to the war zones again.

Democrats plan several more bills in the next few weeks to try to speed troop withdrawals, but the one on "dwell time" was considered their best chance to get the 60 votes needed under Senate rules to shut off debate. It fell four votes short: 56-44.

A weaker "sense of the Senate" version that would've endorsed the policy as a desirable goal without mandating it also fell short, 55-45.

American soldiers generally now are deployed to Iraq for 15 months and get 12 months back in the United States, which includes time away from home spent training for their next missions.

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