Senate Armed Services head says war funding won’t stop

WASHINGTON – The Senate will not stop paying for the Iraq war or relent from insisting that President Bush keep pressing the Baghdad government for a negotiated end to the violence, a top Democrat said Sunday.

Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, the Senate Armed Service Committee chairman, took issue with an effort by Majority Leader Harry Reid to limit war spending after March 2008 as a way to end U.S. involvement.

“We’re not going to vote to cut funding, period,” Levin said, appearing on ABC’s “This Week.” “But what we should do, and we’re going to do, is continue to press this president to put some pressure on the Iraqi leaders to reach a political settlement.”

Bush has asked Congress for more than $100 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. The House and Senate have approved the money, but their bills seek to wind down the war by including timelines for troops to come home – something Bush will not accept.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., appearing on CNN’s “Late Edition,” said “there have not been sufficient efforts at discussions” between lawmakers and the White House. “We cannot leave the troops unfunded in the field. … But we do not have any good alternative. Right now, you can’t see the end of the tunnel, let alone a light at the end of the tunnel.”