President Bush and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid head to a Wednesday meeting at the White House with uncompromising stances on a war spending measure that includes Iraq withdrawal language.

“I hope the Democratic leadership will drop their unreasonable demands for a precipitous withdrawal,” Bush said today. Reid, D-Nev., countered by saying his “offer is that the president sign the bill.”

House and Senate lawmakers are expected to begin hammering out differences this week on the measure (HR 1591) in the shadow of a veto threat. But it is becoming more apparent that each side wants to play out the veto before they get to work writing legislation that will actually get signed into law.

The House version of the $123-billion-plus measure includes language requiring U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq by the end of August 2008. The Senate bill sets an earlier deadline of March 31, 2008, but that date is a “goal,” and therefore non-binding.

Yet when questioned about the next steps after Bush vetoes a bill with a withdrawal timeline, Reid admitted a fresh supplemental bill with benchmarks, rather than a firm withdrawal date, is likely to emerge.

“The president is not going to get a bill that has nothing on it,” Reid said.