The House, as expected, failed to override President Bush’s veto of the fiscal 2007 war supplemental spending bill today, just hours after he returned it with an accompanying statement saying he could not sign legislation that includes deadlines for U.S. troops to leave Iraq.

The 222-203 vote came just before GOP and Democratic House and Senate leaders were set to meet with Bush at the White House to begin working on a new bill. One member voted “present.”

A two-thirds majority vote was required to override the veto. Senate leaders are not planning to hold an override vote.

The president, in a six-paragraph message sent along with the veto, called the bill (HR 1591 — H Rept 110-107) unconstitutional because “it purports to direct the conduct of the operations of the war in a way that infringes upon the powers vested in the presidency by the Constitution, including as commander in chief of the armed forces.”

Democrats used the debate on the override to maintain that they have already compromised with the president and to counter his criticism that Congress is overstepping its role in military decisions.

With the $124.2 billion version of the war spending bill essentially scrapped, House leaders were focused on devising a new emergency supplemental that could pass both chambers and would be acceptable to the White House.