Kennedy to introduce a legislation to block troop surge.

Democrats Split Over Iraq Approach
Jamie Rose for The New York Times

Senator Edward M. Kennedy said Congress had interceded in past wars and should not hesitate to do so now.

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By JEFF ZELENY
Published: January 9, 2007

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 — The new Democratic majority in Congress is divided over how to assert its power in opposing President Bush’s plan to send more troops to Baghdad, as leaders explore ways to block financing for a military expansion without being accused of abandoning American forces already in Iraq.


While Democrats find themselves unusually united in their resistance to a troop increase, party leaders are locked in an internal debate over how far to go in objecting to the administration’s Iraq strategy. The White House has invited some Democrats to meet with Mr. Bush before he gives his Iraq speech on Wednesday, even as others have scoured the history books to find cases when Congress has reined in the commander in chief.

In the most aggressive of the new tactics, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, has said he will introduce legislation on Tuesday to require the president to gain new Congressional authority before sending more troops to Iraq. The bill is the first proposal in the Senate that would prohibit paying for an increase in American troops over their level on Jan. 1.
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But the House majority leader, Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, has not endorsed the idea. Other Democrats, either looking ahead to a possible presidential candidacy or their own re-elections, have also distanced themselves from such a proposal, fearful of being cast as opposing the troops.

“I don’t think we should be pulling back any funds,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who was elected in November. She said she would oppose a proposal to block money for a troop increase.

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But Democrats who are trying to stop Mr. Bush’s proposed troop increase, a group led by Mr. Kennedy, say their proposal to block financing will apply only to new troops. Mr. Kennedy said he hoped that his legislation would be urgently considered by the full Senate, but acknowledged that it remained an open question whether his Democratic leaders would schedule it for a quick vote.

“The importance of this legislation is that it will apply now before we could get the escalation,” he said. “If you wait, this thing is going to be past. I’m not sure that all of our colleagues in the Senate understand that, quite frankly.”