President Bush invited lawmakers to the White House next week to try to break the stalemate on Iraq war funding, but he made it clear yesterday that he is not budging on his key demand -- a "clean" bill without "artificial deadlines" for withdrawal or restrictions on his commanders on the ground.
At the same time, Bush used a morning visit to American Legion Post 177 in Fairfax to renew pressure on Congress to send him the spending bill, warning that the Pentagon will soon be forced to transfer an additional $1.6 billion in funds from other military accounts to make up for a looming shortfall in funding for the Iraq operations. The appearance was another in a series of steps calculated at stiffening the spines of his conservative base for a coming confrontation with Democratic lawmakers.