WASHINGTON, March 24: US President George W. Bush on Saturday said that he would veto the spending legislation that calls for setting a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

The US House of Representatives voted on Friday for the first time to set a cutoff deadline, agreeing by a thin margin to pull combat troops out by September next year.

The vote brought the new Democratic-led Congress ever closer to a showdown with the Republican White House.

Accusing Democrats of playing with the lives of the soldiers fighting in Iraq, Mr Bush said: “I have made it clear that I will veto any such bill, and it is clear that my veto would be sustained.”

“These Democrats believe that the longer they can delay funding for our troops, the more likely they are to force me to accept restrictions on our commanders, an artificial timetable for withdrawal and their pet spending projects. This is not going to happen,” he said.

“By choosing to make a political statement and passing a bill, they know, will never become law, the Democrats in Congress have only delayed the delivery of vital funds and resources our troops need,” Mr Bush said in his weekly radio address.

“The clock is running. The secretary of Defence has warned that if Congress does not approve the emergency funding for our troops by April 15, our men and women in uniform will face significant disruptions – and so will their families.”

Mr Bush urged Congress to send him a “clean bill, without conditions, without restrictions, and without pork” when it returns from the Easter vacations on April 15.

“Members of Congress need to put our troops first, not politics,” he added.

The $124 billion House legislation would pay for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year but would require that combat troops come home from Iraq before September 2008.

Congress so far has provided more than $500 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including about $350 billion for Iraq alone, according to the Congressional Research Service.