WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. George Miller (D-CA) voted today to override President Bush’s veto of a bill in Congress to fund America’s troops and veterans and require the beginning of the end of the U.S. military commitment in Iraq. The bill won a majority of support, but not the two-thirds required to override the veto.

The U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health and Iraq Accountability Act represents the views of a majority of the Congress and the country who believe that the United States should begin to bring its troops home and turn responsibility for the civil war in Iraq over to the Iraqi’s, not American soldiers.

“It is shame the President vetoed this bill. For the good of our nation, he should have signed it,” said Miller. “By vetoing the bill, the president ignored the American people’s call for a new direction in Iraq. We would have required accountability from the Bush Administration and the Iraqi government for the first time, but President Bush said no. He said, in essence, that despite the fact that his policy has been resoundingly rejected by military experts, the public, and the Congress he will stay the course and continue to put our soldiers in danger with no plan for success and no plan to bring them home. He is acting irresponsibly and offering nothing in return. I was proud to vote, once again, today for a new direction in Iraq and I will continue to press for en end this tragic and failed war.

“Only in Washington is the war in Iraq considered a partisan issue. The fact is that across the country, a majority of people of every political leaning have come to the same conclusion – American soldiers have no business fighting Iraq’s civil war. But the majority of Republican members of Congress continue to march in partisan lockstep with President Bush and we therefore cannot yet override the President’s veto and cannot yet begin the new direction we so desperately need.

The Iraq Accountability Act would have: