The White House unequivocally stated today that President Bush would veto the Senate’s $121.7 billion war supplemental over the administration’s objections to Iraq troop withdrawal language as well as additional spending.

“Congress should reject this legislation, and promptly send the President a responsible bill that provides the funding and flexibility our troops need, without holding funding for the troops hostage to unrelated spending,” the White House said in a policy statement.

The Senate began debate on its war spending bill Monday and Democratic leaders are hoping for a final passage vote this week. The bill (HR 1591) has drawn criticism from GOP lawmakers for including a provision to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq with the goal of finishing by the end of March 2008.

The Senate was expected to vote about 5 p.m. on an amendment by Senate Appropriations Committee ranking Republican Thad Cochran of Mississippi seeking to strip the withdrawal language. But even if Republicans succeed in removing the troop withdrawal language from the bill, it is likely Democrats will retain some sort of withdrawal language in conference negotiations with the House. The House-passed $124.3 billion measure includes a timetable for troop withdrawal by the end of August 2008.