US Senate Democrats won a key vote yesterday that clears the way for
setting a date by which most US troops would be required to leave Iraq, CBS News
reported.
Democrats defeated by a vote of 50-48 the Republican effort to strip language
from the 122 billion-US dollar Iraq supplemental spending bill that will require
most combat soldiers to leave Iraq within a year, according to the report.
Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel and Gordon Smith voted with the Democrats.
The victory likely will be symbolic because US President George W. Bush said
he will veto the legislation.
Moreover, Democrats are unsure if they would prevail until the end of the
vote.
"We don't know how it's going to turn out," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
said. "We won't know until the vote's over."
He added that the legislation is "supported by the vast majority of the
American people."
The House has already passed legislation requires troops to be withdrawn by
Sept. 1 next year.
