Anti-Buildup Resolution to Be Bipartisan

By Carl Hulse and Jim Rutenberg THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, an outspoken Republican critic of the Bush administration’s Iraq policy, will join two leading Democrats in introducing a resolution opposing President Bush’s buildup of troops in Iraq, putting a bipartisan stamp on the looming congressional showdown over the war.

Lawmakers and aides said Hagel had been consulting for the past few days with the two Democrats, Sens. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, to develop the wording of the resolution, which could be introduced as early as today.

“Sen. Levin, Sen. Biden and I have been working together on it, and we are pretty close,” Hagel, a potential Republican presidential candidate, said Tuesday night.

Hagel said the intent of the resolution was not to “bash the president” or to call for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, but a responsible way for members of the Senate to register their opinion on more than 20,000 additional troops announced by Bush last week.

While Senate opponents of the buildup were preparing to proceed, Senate Republicans backing the president were trying to map their own strategy, considering proposals that could appeal to Republicans frustrated with events in Iraq but keep them from supporting the most critical resolution.

“There will be alternatives,” said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

Bush on Tuesday stepped up his challenge to Congress to provide an alternative plan if it is going to criticize his. “My only call to Congress is that if you’ve got a better way to succeed, step up and explain it,” he said in an interview on “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” on PBS. “What’s your prescription for success? And I think they owe that explanation to the American people.”

In the House, the Democratic leadership said it would wait for the Senate to act before bringing its own resolution up for a vote. Members of both parties in the Senate have said as many as a dozen Republicans may ultimately support a resolution against the president’s policy.

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