Hawai'i Congresswoman Mazie Hirono said a bill providing increased funding for U.S. troops in Iraq requires accountability from the Bush administration and the Iraqi government.

Yesterday, the Democratic-controlled House voted 221-205 largely along party lines to pay for military operations in Iraq in two installments, the first covering costs only until Aug. 1.

Hirono and fellow Hawai'i Democrat Rep. Neil Abercrombie voted in favor of the measure.

"The bill is significant in that it requires the president to report on the progress of the Iraqi government by July 13, 2007," Hirono said in a news release. "If the president fails to show that his surge has changed the trajectory of the war, Congress may vote to redeploy them and start to bring them home."

Abercrombie issued a statement in which he said Republican members of Congress "accuse anyone who opposes endless war in Iraq of somehow politicizing it.

However, giving President Bush whatever he demands is not a congressional responsibility. It is simply the role Republicans have chosen.

"They argue that the proper way to demonstrate support for U.S. troops at war in Iraq is to keep them there," he said. "I believe the clearest expression of support for our men and women in uniform is to bring them home."

Earlier yesterday, Abercrombie and Hirono supported a measure to require the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq within nine months. It went down in defeat, 255-171.