For the past six years, President Bush has enjoyed strong support from Republicans in Congress for his domestic and foreign policy agendas. But divisions over the war in Iraq are beginning to strain that political alliance. VOA national correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.

High praise has come in from around the world for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who officially announced his resignation date Thursday. President Bush said he will miss Mr. Blair, calling him a political thinker who keeps his word. Mr. Bush indicated that he believes Mr. Blair's likely successor, Finance Minister Gordon Brown, will not change British policy on Iraq.

The Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives has voted to fund the Iraq war on an instalment plan, a move quickly rejected by President George W Bush as "haphazard".

President Bush is receiving a closed-door briefing from senior military officials at the Pentagon Thursday on the situation in Iraq. The meeting takes place one day after a group of moderate congressional Republicans had what is being described as an unusually "blunt" discussion on Iraq with Mr. Bush and his senior aides at the White House.

The White House is threatening to veto a bill proposed in the House of Representatives that would pay for the Iraq war only through July since the Defence Secretary Robert Gates said such a limit would be disastrous.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress are looking at ways to find a compromise that will provide continued funding for the war in Iraq. President Bush vetoed an earlier $124-billion spending measure because it contained a Democratic-backed timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops.

Last week, President Bush reaffirmed his support for overhauling America's immigration system to provide a path to eventual citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal aliens in the country. One of the most contentious issues in the immigration debate is the effect that undocumented workers have on the U.S. labor market.

The White House and the U.S. Congress resume negotiations this week on a revised war-funding bill. VOA's Paula Wolfson reports the tone is collegial, but there is no sign of an imminent breakthrough. There is a wide gap between the White House and Capitol Hill on the revised war spending bill.

President Bush and congressional Democrats are negotiating new funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq after the president vetoed a measure earlier this week because it included a timetable for a troop withdrawal from Iraq. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns has the story.

Two days after thousands of people rallied in several American cities to call for change in U.S. immigration laws, President Bush again spoke out for what he calls comprehensive reform. Members of the president's own Republican Party in the House of Representatives scuttled his efforts last year. But Mr. Bush today spoke optimistically of chances for action this year.

U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton has introduced legislation to repeal President Bush's authority to wage war in Iraq on October 11 of this year, exactly five years after Congress granted that authority. VOA's Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

President Bush and his Yemeni counterpart, Ali Abdullah Saleh met at the White House yesterday to discuss the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns has the story. President Bush thanked President Saleh for Yemen's contributions to the fight against terrorism.