It's a Match! Senate Passes Its Own Iraq Bill

In another victory for pragmatism on Iraq, Senate Democrats banded together today to pass a spending bill, which, like the House bill passed last Friday, sets a timetable for withdrawal. The Senate measure contains a non-binding goal of withdrawal by March 31, 2008 (the House deadline of August 2008 is binding). Ben Nelson of Nebraska, one of the most conservative members of the Democratic caucus, is said to have agonized over the decision. Pragmatism prevailed, it seems, because Nelson, who opposes announcing dates for withdrawal, saw the bill as the best way to move the discussion on Iraq toward the issues of diplomacy -- of political solutions -- and accountability. However swift the presidential veto is in coming, it won't be able to reverse this shift.