By Herman Wang
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- As the Senate takes up Iraq war legislation this week, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said he has not yet found a war policy bill to support among the hundreds of amendments to the Defense Authorization Act.
"While I have a general sense of some of the things being put forth, I know others will be forthcoming," Sen. Corker said from West Tennessee Monday afternoon, shortly before departing for Washington. "I'll wait until I come up there to see if there's a bill I can support."
Meanwhile, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., will meet this week with Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., to tweak the Iraq Study Group bill they co-wrote in the hope of improving its chances of being heard.
"They're going to make sure their bill is better and incorporate the things he saw on the ground and heard from the troops," said Lee Pitts, spokesman for Sen. Alexander. "Every option is on the table. They feel the Senate needs to speak with one voice on Iraq, and this bill is the best way to do that."
The bill, which would make binding the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, including benchmarks for an eventual troop withdrawal, never got the backing of Democratic or Republican leaders and did not come up for a vote when the Senate last took up war legislation in July.
The bill has 17 co-sponsors -- nine Democrats and seven Republicans.
Sen. Alexander criticized the White House-backed plan outlined last week before Congress by Gen. David Petraeus to withdraw as many as 21,500 combat forces and an unspecified number of support troops by next summer, saying it "didn't go as far" as he had hoped.
Democrats and some Republicans have rejected the general's plan for not having a rapid enough timeline for withdrawal.
Sen. Corker, however, said he firmly supports Gen. Petraeus' plan and that he prefers to allow the generals on the ground to dictate war strategy.
"What I've seen is that, province by province, our troops are transitioning their mission," said Sen. Corker, who visited Iraq in August with Sen. Alexander.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the chamber will spend this week and next going through the more than 300 amendments to the Defense Authorization Act, which provides funding for the war.
He challenged Republicans not to stall Democrat-backed withdrawal bills with threats of filibusters as they did in July.
"We can start to change course now," Sen. Reid said on the floor Monday. "The overwhelming majority of the American people and Congress are ready to do just that."
Democrats are likely to bring back a bill written by Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., that calls for troop withdrawals to begin in four months and end by April 30, 2008. In July, the bill fell seven votes short of the 60-vote threshold to proceed.
E-mail Herman Wang at hwang@timesfreepress.com
