(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-05 00:14

Washington -- US President Bush challenged Congress Tuesday to quickly pass war funding legislation before its December holiday recess.

President Bush speaks during a news conference, Tuesdeay, Dec. 4, 2007, in the Brady Press Room at the White House in Washington.  [Agencies]

However, the president warned that "if the Congress passes an irresponsible spending bill, I'm going to veto it," Bush told reporters during a White House news conference, his first in nearly seven weeks.

Bush said US Congress was poised to pile all its pending spending bills into a single, "monstrous piece of legislation which they will load up with billions of dollars in earmarks and wasteful spending."

"Based on the record so far, Americans could be forgiven for thinking that Santa will have slipped down their chimney on Christmas Eve before Congress finishes its work," Bush said. "Let's hope they're wrong."

He slammed Democrats for passing bills for the sake of "headlines" which lawmakers knew he would veto. "The Democrats in the House and Senate need to work out their differences before they come to the White House," Bush said. "In order for us to be able to reach accord, they've got to come with one voice, one position."

A $50 billion war spending bill, which would have required US troops to begin leaving Iraq within 30 days, passed the House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate -- with Republicans balking at the withdrawal provision.

The president has criticized lawmakers for weeks for failing to send him legislation that would extend Defense Department funding for US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has said the delay would eventually force the layoffs of 100,000 civilian Defense Department workers.

In addition, the Army will run out of operations and maintenance money if such legislation isn't passed by February, Bush has said. The Marines would run out of money by March, he said.

Renewed Pressure on Iran

On Iran, Bush said that the international community should continue to pressure Iran on its nuclear programs, saying a new intelligence report finding that Tehran halted its development of a nuclear bomb doesn't mean it's not a danger.

"I view this report as a warning signal that they had the program, they halted the program," Bush said. "The reason why it's a warning signal is they could restart it."

Bush spoke one day after a new national intelligence estimate found that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003. That finding is in stark contrast to the comparable intelligence estimate of just two years ago, when US intelligence agencies believed Tehran was determined to develop a nuclear weapons capability and was continuing its weapons development program.

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