White House press secretary Tony Snow this morning said Senate Dems should not rewrite the 2002 authorization of force in Iraq

"It may have the same effect as cutting off funding," Mr. Snow said at the morning off-camera "gaggle" with reporters.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., Delaware Democrat, and Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, are working on a proposal to repeal the 2002 authorization and replace it with a more "limited" mission in Iraq.

"You have to ask yourself, what is the point of doing this," Mr. Snow said.

The Biden/Levin plan also calls for U.S. combat troops to be out of Iraq, for the most part, by about March 2008.

-- Jon Ward, Capitol Hill correspondent, The Washington Times