Republicans blocked a debate on the Iraq war in the US Senate in a setback for critics of President Bush's plan to send thousands more troops there.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid
Republicans largely united to employ Senate rules against the newly elected Democratic majority, which moved a resolution expressing disagreement with the plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq.
Under Senate rules 60 votes are needed before the 100-member Senate could begin debate. It received only 49, with 47 voting against in a largely party-line vote.
Opponents said the measure, sponsored by Virginia Republican Senator John Warner and Michigan Democrat Senator Carl Levin, was a thinly disguised political slap at Mr Bush that would dishearten US troops and signal domestic disunity.
Republicans also said they voted against the measure in protest because they could not get amendments considered on their terms.
But Democrats plan to return to the issue next Monday when the Senate considers Mr Bush's request for billions more in funding for his stuttering foreign policy.
"We are going to debate Iraq. They may stop us temporarily from debating the escalation, but they are not going to stop us from debating Iraq," declared Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid.
The resolution would not have been binding on the president, but it was the first serious attempt by Congress to confront him over the unpopular war.