US Democrats aggressively challenged President George W. Bush's Iraq policy yesterday, gaining House committee approval for a troop withdrawal deadline of September 1st, 2008, but suffering defeat in the Senate on a less sweeping plan to end US participation in the war.
Anti-war Democrats prevailed on a near-party line vote of 36-28 in the House Appropriations Committee, brushing aside a week-old veto threat from the administration and overcoming unyielding opposition from Republicans.
In the Senate, after weeks of skirmishing, Republicans easily turned back Democratic legislation requiring a troop withdrawal to begin within 120 days.
The measure set no fixed deadline for completion of the redeployment, but set a goal of March 31st, 2008. The vote was 50-48 against the measure, 12 short of the 60 needed for passage.
Senate Democrats promptly said they would try again to force a change in Bush's policy beginning next week when they begin work on legislation providing money for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The developments coincided with the traditional St Patrick's Day luncheon in the Capitol, an annual social event hosted by the speaker of the House and attended by the president and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
For an hour or so, while lawmakers were debating the war, Mr Bush and the leader of the political opposition, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, were seated near one another in an ornate hall not far from the Capitol Rotunda.