The Webb amendment did not pass. The vote was 56/44.

Speaking on the Senate floor this morning, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), an ardent opponent of a pro-troop measure to relieve the stress on the overstretched armed forces, announced he will propose a toothless, watered-down substitute to the Webb amendment.

McCain said he and Sen. John Warner (R-VA) have teamed up to put together a “sense of the Senate” amendment to express “very clearly that we all want all our troops home and we understand the stress and strain that’s been inflicted on the men and women in the military and the guard and reserves.”

McCain’s rhetoric belies his intentions - to kill the Webb amendment. Webb’s bill would force the Bush administration to provide active duty troops at least the same time at home as the length of their previous tour of duty overseas. After learning of the McCain-Warner proposal, Webb immediately rejected it, stating that the troops don-t need the “sense of the Congress” but rather “the will of the Congress”:

I have just learned from Sen. McCain’s comments that Sen. Warner will be offering a side-by’side amendment that goes to the sense of the Congress rather than the will of the Congress. And I would like to state emphatically at the outset that this is a situation that calls for the will of the Congress.

Continue reading and watch video at Think Progress

Here’s video of Webb on CNN, Sen. Webb slams Sen. McCain for his opposition to his dwell-time amendment for troops serving in Iraq, telling him he “needs to read the Constitution.”