U.S. Democrats to fund Iraq war with no pullout date By Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Bush won a battle over funding the Iraq war as congressional Democrats Tuesday abandoned troop withdrawal efforts for now but pledged to fight with new legislation in July. Senior congressional aides said a $100 billion war funding bill the U.S. Congress is trying to finish this week will not contain timetables for withdrawing most of the 147,000 U.S. troops from Iraq, as anti-war Democrats had hoped. On May 1, Bush vetoed Congress’ first version of this year’s emergency war funds bill because it set an Oct. 1 deadline for starting to pull out soldiers. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said that finishing touches on a new bill were still being worked on with the White House. But acknowledging the political realities of the Democrats’ narrow control of Congress and a White House occupied by a Republican, Hoyer told reporters, “The president has made it very clear he’s not going to sign timelines (for withdrawing troops). We can’t pass timelines over his veto.” That will be a disappointment for many Democrats who think they won control of Congress in last November’s elections largely because voters wanted to see an end to the four-year-old war in Iraq. Hoyer said Democrats will continue pushing for a “change in direction” in Iraq, where at least 3,420 U.S. soldiers have been killed and more than 34,000 wounded. “Certainly we’ll do it in July when Mr. Murtha’s bill is on the floor,” Hoyer said. He was referring to Rep. John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has led efforts in the House of Representatives to end U.S. combat involvement in the Iraq war. In July, Murtha will shepherd a military funding bill through the House for the next fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1….