Pelosi hopeful about completing Iraq bill this week

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is confident that Congress will be able to work out a compromise with the White House and pass an Iraq supplemental spending bill this week.

“It’s going to be difficult and challenging,” Pelosi said in a CNN interview that aired Monday. “We owe it to the American people to try to find our common ground with the president on this on how we can end the war.”

{mosads}Last week, Democrats said they offered major concessions to White House negotiators, including stripping non-military spending from the bill and allowing President Bush to waive the requirement of a withdrawal date. However, these proposals were rejected.

Republicans blasted the Democrats’ desire to include a withdrawal timetable in the bill.

“Whether waivable or not, timelines send exactly the wrong signal to our adversaries, to our allies and, most importantly, to the troops in the field,” White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten said following a meeting with Democratic leaders last week.

Despite the negative comments from both sides last week, Pelosi said she remains confident that a compromise can be reached. However, she stressed that, if a deal cannot be reached, Democrats have to “stand our ground on how to end the war.”