Mitt Romney: Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama 'Surrender Vote'

The US Senate has voted to approve a bill which requires US troops to be withdrawn from Iraq within 11 months.  It follows a vote in the US House of Representatives which makes further funding of the war in Iraq conditional on a timetable for a US troop pullout.  The 51-46 vote was largely along party lines, and like House passage of the same bill a day earlier, fell far short of the two-thirds margin needed to overturn the president's threatened veto.

Mitt Romney: Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama 'Surrender Vote'

The $124.2 billion bill requires troop withdrawals to begin Oct. 1 or sooner if the Iraqi government does not meet certain benchmarks.  It will be vetoed and is nothing ore than a symbolic measure.

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Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama vote in support of the pull-out and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney pounced. "Today, the Democrats in the Senate have joined House Democrats in sending to the President a bill setting a date for surrender. In their attempt to micromanage the men and women in our military from Washington, Democrats in Congress have settled on a policy that demoralizes our troops, emboldens our enemies and jeopardizes the prospects for success in Iraq. I urge the President to veto this bill and send a strong message to our troops that we stand with them.

"The policy that the Democrats in Congress have embraced is both reckless and dangerous. We must also thank those Senators who recorded their support for our troops and voted against this timeline for withdrawal."

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The Democratic presidential candidates will debate tonight on the unofficial Democrat network MSNBC.  "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams was set to moderate the MSNBC debate, which was being hosted by the university and the South Carolina Democratic Party.