President George W Bush kept up the pressure on the Democratic-controlled US Congress yesterday to set aside misgivings about his troop buildup and fully fund US forces in Iraq.
Mr Bush was on the road raising campaign money for the first time since his Republicans lost control of Congress in November elections. Instead of vowing to stay and fight and win in Iraq, an unpopular stance that contributed to Republican losses, the president asked lawmakers to give his reworked Iraq strategy enough time to work.
"Our men and women in uniform risk their lives as they carry out this plan to secure Baghdad and secure this country and they need the support of the United States Congress,"Mr Bush told an event that raised $2.1 million for Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell's re-election campaign.
Congress this month will begin debate on a $100 billion proposal to fund U.S. military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Democrats appear divided on what to do. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted to protest Bush's deployment of 21,500 extra troops to Iraq. The Senate tried to do the same but was bogged down in procedural rules pushed by McConnell, head of the Republican minority in the Senate and a key Bush ally.
Some House Democrats now want to attach conditions to the spending. But some moderates do not want to take any steps that could hurt funding for troops abroad.
"No matter where members stand on my decision, they have a solemn responsibility to support those who wear the uniform of the United States and to make sure that we have the flexibility necessary to protect this homeland," Mr Bush said.
Mr Bush cited the Senate confirmation of the top US commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and the House vote protesting the troop buildup as a contradiction. The White House said it expects Mr Bush to be a fairly active fund-raiser on the campaign trail leading up to the 2008 elections.