"I endorsed it. I intend now to cast a vote against it." -- Republican Sen. John Warner, explaining on the Senate floor a few minutes ago that he will vote against a bill that would ensure that troops get as much time at home as they spend during their deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Warner and Sen. John McCain will push, instead, a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution that recognizes the stress and strain that the war in Iraq is putting on the men and women in the armed services but doesn't actually do anything about it.
Warner said he no longer supports the binding measure proposed by Democratic Sen. Jim Webb because he has heard from military officials that it will cause problems with their troop deployments -- including the possibility of troop withdrawals this year -- and because "I just don't want to see another veto scenario right here in the middle of the war."
Webb, fuming over what he called a "fig leaf" approach to the problem his measure addresses, said: "This is not a time for the United States Congress to be giving advice. This is a time for the United States Congress to step in."
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