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WASHINGTON
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq has promised reforms that have yet to appear.
The vote was 50 to 48 against the resolution, but since the senators had agreed that 60 votes would be required for passage the measure fell far short.
In the House of Representatives, a similar proposal passed a critical test vote before the Appropriations Committee, 36 to 28, also split on party lines. That proposal, part of a huge spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan, is now on track for consideration next week in the full House.
The Senate was also voting this afternoon on a pair of nonbinding resolutions, one Democratic and one Republican, expressing support for the troops and pledging to provide them with all necessary money. Both were expected to pass easily.
The action in both houses underscored the growing challenge to the Bush Administration from the new Democratic Congress, which is trying to beat down, vote by vote, Republican resistance to winding down the war.
The Senate vote came as part of an agreement between the two party leaders that broke a parliamentary stalemate and allowed each party to vote on Iraq measures of their choosing, with the understanding that each would require 60 votes to pass. Democrats, who had earlier resisted such a deal, said they were now eager to put senators on the record on their Iraq resolution.
The troop withdrawal resolution would have redefined the United States mission in Iraq and set a goal of redeploying American combat troops by March 31, 2008, except for a “limited number” focused on counterterrorism, training and equipping Iraqi forces, and protecting American and coalition personnel.
Republicans declared the resolution would be devastating to the American war effort, “like sending a memo to our enemy,” or “giving notice to the other side of when we’re going to depart,” in the words of Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader.
Only one Republican, Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon, voted in favor of the measure. Two Democrats, Senator Mark Pryor or Arkansas and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, voted against it, as did Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut. Senators Tim Johnson, a Democrat from South Dakota who is ill, and John McCain, an Arizona Republican who is in Iowa, did not vote.
The Senate is also considering a resolution by Senator Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire, that declares that “Congress should not take any action that will endanger United States military forces in the field, including the elimination or reduction of funds for troops in the field.” Democrats offered their own nonbinding resolution that declares that Congress and the president shall provide all “necessary funds” for the safety of American forces, both on the battlefield and when they return home, an allusion to the scandal at Walter Reed Army Medical Center over the treatment of injured soldiers.
In the House, the Appropriations Committee advanced the $124 billion Iraq spending legislation, with Representative Barbara Lee of California being the lone Democratic vote against it. She argued it did not go far enough to end the war and remove troops from Iraq. Democrats sought to fight back charges that the legislation was meddling in the management of the war.
“Please don’t characterize what we are doing as shutting down funding for the troops,” said Representative David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat. “Some of you have the misimpression that’s what the Congress did in Vietnam, and you don’t want to see the repeat of that. Congress never did that in Vietnam.”
Representative Harold Rogers, a Kentucky Republican on the committee, accused the Democrats of loading up the legislation with billions of dollars in sweeteners, simply to draw support for a controversial plan to try to end the Iraq war.
“Welcome Kmart shoppers,” Mr. Rogers said. “This is the shopping mart for those who are nervous about supporting the precipitous withdrawal of troops. This is an effort to buy votes — whether you are a spinach farmer or salmon farmer, there’s something in here for you, if you just vote for this bill.”
The bill includes billions of dollars aimed at shoring up domestic programs, from rebuilding the Gulf Coast damaged by Hurricane Katrina to agricultural assistance, including $25 million in aid to spinach farmers.
