US House rejects war funding bill

The White House wants funds to pay for another year of war

The Democrat-controlled US House of Representatives has rejected more funding to pay for another year of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The bill would have provided the Pentagon with $162.5bn (£83.5bn) to keep the two wars going but included add-ons wanted by the Democrats.

Republicans withheld their votes in protest, allowing the war funding bill to be defeated by 149-141.

The Senate is expected to debate its version of the bill next week.

The House did pass two components of the bill that call for extended education benefits for returning soldiers and for President George W Bush to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within 30 days of the bill becoming law.

President Bush had earlier promised to veto any measures that restricted his actions in Iraq.

Campaign promises

House Republicans withheld their votes from the bill, saying the Democrats had added unrelated domestic-spending provisions that would delay getting funding to the troops.

"We're playing political games on the backs of our troops - you know it," said Republican Minority Leader John Boehner.

The war funding issue will be raised again next week, when the Senate is expected to debate its version of the bill.

As the House voted, Republican candidate for the US presidency, John McCain, said that if he were elected, he would withdraw most American troops from Iraq within five years.

He said that by early 2013 he expected the war to have been won and Iraq would have a functioning democracy.

The Democratic Party candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, have both said they would start bringing American troops home right away if elected.