Bush inviting Dems to meet about Iraq

AP

President Bush will invite Democrats to the White House to discuss their standoff over a war-funding bill, but he will not budge from his opposition to troop-withdrawal deadlines in Iraq, the administration said Tuesday.

The White House announced the move as Bush was addressing an American Legion audience in Fairfax, Va.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino announced that the Defense Department will soon send Congress a bill to transfer $1.6 billion from other military accounts to cover funding for troops — a move needed, she said, because lawmakers have delayed Bush's funding request.

Perino said Bush would invite congressional leaders to the White House to "discuss with him how they are going to be able to bring him a clean bill that he can sign," Perino said. "I will point out this is not a negotiation."

Her description of Bush's invitation immediately raised questions about exactly what the point was.

When a reporter said it sounded like an invitation for Democrats to agree with Bush, Perino said, "Well, hopefully so."

Bush has promised to veto any bill that calls for timetables to pull troops out of Iraq. Both the House and Senate have approved bills to extend funding for the war in Iraq, and both call for U.S. troops to begin withdrawing by certain dates.

Perino said Bush won't budge. "The clean bill is a red line," she said.

Still, she said, Bush is extending a hand to Democrats.

"I think what they get out of it is a path to getting done what they say what they want to do, which is they want to fund the troops," Perino said.