Freshman Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, is co-sponsor of a bill in the House that is similar to the bill in the Senate calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq. Braley says the main provisions of the bill are a timetable to "redeploy the troops within 120 days of enactment, it "reduces the footprint of U.S. forces in Iraq to a limited presence" that must be completed by April 1, 2008 and includes a troop safety component.
Braley says the bill gives the President benchmarks as the bill requires President Bush to come up with a "comprehensive Iraq strategy by January 1 of 2008, that report must include a discussion of U.S. national security interests in Iraq, a justification of the minimum force levels required to protect U.S. national security interests after April 1st of 2008, and also requires him to lay out specific diplomatic initiatives to engage U.S. allies and others in the region to bring stability to the area."
Braley says he’s seen a slow change in Senate Republicans when it comes to supporting the president, but isn’t sure if the House will follow. Braley says the House Caucus on the Republican side has show fewer signs of change than the Senate has, and says "it will be interesting to see what type of support we get on the Republican side for this bill." The bill is expected to be brought up in the House today.