Sen. Levin (D-MI) Announces Plans to Negotiate With GOP on Iraq [View All]

Levin seeks negotiation on Iraq with GOP
By Manu Raju
September 28, 2007

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) vowed Friday to resurrect negotiations with a key Republican to forge a bipartisan compromise on Iraq, after the chamber voted to shut down debate on a defense policy bill and effectively delay the fight over the war until at least next month.

Talks between Levin and Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) broke down Thursday shortly before the Senate voted 89–6 to end debate on the $460 billion defense authorization bill, which since July had been the prime target for Democratic efforts to attach measures that would have changed the course of the Iraq war. The Senate could send the defense bill to a conference committee with the House as early as Monday.

Over the course of the debate, Republicans blocked repeated Democratic efforts to attach an amendment — co-sponsored by Levin and Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reed — to redeploy most troops out of Iraq in nine months. After coming up short, Levin sought to woo centrist Republicans, including Voinovich, by softening the requirement of redeploying troops into a goal of withdrawing the U.S. military from Iraq.

Voinovich, along with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), proposed that the nine-month goal be extended to 15 months to avoid interference with the 2008 presidential election, according to Levin and aides.

“I believe that would be introducing a political element into what is a bipartisan effort,” Levin said Friday, adding that extending the timeframe would be “unacceptable to most Democrats.”

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