Michigan Senator Carl Levin is working on a strategy in the Senate that would halve President George W. Bush's recent supplemental budget request for Iraq. Essentially, the strategy would fund the war for six months and then require President Bush to make another request. In addition, The Hill newspaper reports that Senator Levin is considering language in the supplemental that would target a "complete withdrawal" from Iraq in nine months. It is unclear as to whether or not this will be a full withdrawal--including all military forces and contractors--or if it will be a variation of Levin's earlier proposals that would leave an unknown number of soldiers in Iraq.

If such a bill is indeed proposed, the strategy is designed to put the onus on the Republicans by forcing them to either filibuster or muster sixty votes to remove the withdrawal language from the bill. Levin has reportedly said that he favors this strategy to avoid "sending a negative message to the troops" and Republican opposition to a strict timeline. Moreover, this strategy would help limit attacks from Republicans who charge that cutting funding for the war puts US soldiers in danger:

"We ought to ... put that kind of pressure on the administration by taking a positive act, which is providing funding for the troops, and doing it for a period which requires revisiting this issue after the president reports to us next spring."