Democrats cite progress on Webb amendment

Democrats on Sunday indicated that they are in the process of building support for language that would give troops longer rest periods, and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said he hopes enough votes can be found to override a presidential veto.

{mosads}The measure, championed by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), would require troops to get as much downtime at home as they spent in Iraq. A consequence of the legislation, Democrats hope, will be that the current troop levels in Iraq cannot be sustained.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday that he would recommend that President Bush veto any such language, meaning it would take 67 votes in the Senate to pass it over the White House objections. The last time it was up for a vote, the measure failed to get the 60 votes necessary to overcome a GOP filibuster.

But Democrats believe that support is building.

“Right now, Senator Webb’s amendment, I would guess, has at least 57 votes, on a bipartisan basis,” said Reed on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. “We want to move and move forward, pick up the votes. This process is sometimes too slow, but it’s a process that I think is going in the right direction. We’re picking up support. And I think on this issue, we can pick up sufficient votes — 60, I hope 67.”

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) acknowledged that the Democrats do not have enough votes to override a veto but said this should not prevent them from fighting to pass the legislation.