Fresh back from a congressional visit to Latin America, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to come out swinging Monday at a Capitol Hill news conference highlighting Democratic efforts to provide funding for troops. The senator will almost certainly blame Republicans for blocking last month a $50-billion Iraq bill that called for troops to return home by the end of 2008.

House and Senate Democrats argue that there are adequate funds to keep the war and Pentagon operations afloat for months under the $460 billion Defense Department spending bill that was signed into law last month. They say that President Bush and his Republican allies are holding up any additional funding by refusing to accept “accountability” measures on the current war policy.

In his weekly radio address Saturday, Bush accused Democrats of holding funds hostage that would “keep our troops safe and help them protect our nation.”

Bush said that a continued delay of the supplemental funding package will have a “damaging impact on the operations of our military,” and said that the Pentagon would have to redirect funding from other activities and layoff civilian employees.

Democrats dismiss those threats, accusing the administration of using scare tactics to convince Congress to approve the funding package with no strings attached.

Returning from a visit to Iraq, freshman Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) told reporters Saturday that Bush’s threat was simply “gamesmanship.”

“Nobody is going to get hurt for having this debate go on for another month or so,” Webb said.

Republicans say that momentum in the Iraq debate is on their side, with military progress occurring as a result of the troop “surge” Bush announced in January.

But Democrats say that in spite of the military progress, the surge has failed to produce political reconciliation in Iraq and vast instability still exists in the region.

“From a military side, where our young men and women have gone they have certainly done their job,” Webb said. “The question … is whether we are going to do our job on a diplomatic level.”

While the rhetoric over Iraq is certain to intensify, it remains unclear what – if any – legislative action will be taken on the war in December. Instead, most of the legislative maneuvering will likely occur on the five or so major bills pending, as well as an omnibus spending package that will include all 11 appropriations measures and will exceed Bush’s budget request by $11 billion for domestic programs. Bush has vowed to veto such a plan, setting up a year-end clash with the threat of a government shutdown looming.

Acting on an AMT patch is one of the thorniest issues left to resolve, with Democrats promising to act in order to prevent up to 25 million people from paying new taxes next April. But since they took control of Congress, Democrats have promised to be fiscally responsible by enacting measures to offset any new losses in revenue. That has left them in a quandary over whether to jettison the spending rules or increase taxes to offset the costs of an AMT patch.

Republicans are calling on Democrats to waive their spending rules. Also, some GOP lawmakers have suggested that packaging an AMT patch with offsets, as well as an extension of the tax cuts enacted in Bush’s first term could garner enough support to clear Congress.

But Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) dismissed that suggestion during the Thanksgiving recess, saying adequate support does not exist in the Senate to push such a plan through.

“The Bush tax cuts will not pass this Congress,” Baucus told reporters Nov. 29.