Democrats look for new Iraq bill in two weeks

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Democratic leaders said Wednesday a vote on a new Iraq war budget in the House of Representatives could come within two weeks, after President George W. Bush vetoed their troop withdrawal timetable.

Democratic Majority leader Steny Hoyer said despite their showdown with Bush for control of the war, the party would not cut off the funding spigot for US troops in the war-torn nation.

"My hope is within the next two weeks," Hoyer told reporters when asked how long new legislation would take to go through the House. "We will not allow this to languish."

Such a schedule would allow the Senate to take up its own version and send the new emergency bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to Bush at the end of May, he said.

Hoyer hit back at Republican claims that Democrats had deprived US troops of vital resources by seeking to tie war funding to a timetable to start withdrawing most of the 146,000 combat troops in Iraq by October 1.

"We are going to fund the troops, we are not going to leave our troops in harm's way without the resources that they need."