Cheney predicts Democrats will approve Iraq funds

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney predicted in an interview aired on Sunday that Democrats in the end would provide the money needed by U.S. troops in Iraq after some political sparring with President George W. Bush.

"I don't think that the majority of the Democrats in Congress want to leave America's fighting forces in harm's way without the resources they need to defend themselves," Cheney said on the CBS program "Face the Nation."

Democrats want to attach a date for a withdrawal from Iraq to a $100 billion funding bill but Bush insists he will veto such a measure. Democrats in Congress do not have the votes to override a veto.

Bush has invited House and Senate Democratic leaders to a meeting at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the bill but has said he does not plan to change his mind.

House and Senate Democrats are expected to try to iron out their own differences on the bill this week.

The House version requires all U.S. combat troops to withdraw from Iraq by September 1, 2008. The Senate's approach would begin troop withdrawals this year with a goal, not a mandate, that combat troops leave by March 31, 2008.

Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on "Fox News Sunday" the Democrats would provide the money for the troops in some other fashion minus deadlines if they fail to override Bush's veto.

"We will hopefully send him something strong in the area of benchmarks ... putting pressure on the president to put pressure on the Iraqis," Levin said.

"Those benchmarks would hopefully have some teeth telling the Iraqis that the open-ended commitment is over and they must meet their own benchmarks that they set for themselves to reach a political settlement" such as the sharing of power and resources.

Cheney has been highly critical of the Democrats' handling of the funding. But in his CBS interview, he agreed with Levin that the Democrats "will not leave the troops in the field without the resources they need to be able to carry out their mission."

When asked about opinion polls that show the majority of Americans want a timetable for withdrawal, Cheney said: "There is also a majority that I think would prefer to have us win."