(Adds new 2nd para, and that 2007 deadliest year for US forces in Iraq)

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday set in motion another showdown with President George W. Bush over the Iraq war when they advanced a military spending bill without extra funds for the conflict.

Angry Republicans accused Democrats of a "slow bleed" strategy to end the Iraq war by starving it of funds.

Negotiators in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate approved a $460 billion Pentagon funding bill for fiscal 2008 that both chambers are expected to approve soon.

They also added a stopgap provision that would keep the rest of the government going until Dec. 14, a Senate aide said. With most of the legislation to fund the government still unfinished, the government currently is operating on a stopgap funding measure that lasts until Nov. 16.

Last year's Pentagon funding bill contained $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which was intended to keep combat operations running until a larger "emergency" spending bill was approved. Republicans had hoped this year would be no different.

Instead, majority Democrats said they would bring up a separate proposal with more cash for the war -- as much as $50 billion -- as soon as later this week. But they said they will tie restrictions to the war money, such as troop withdrawal timelines that have drawn a veto from Bush in the past.

On Monday, House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat, talked about setting "a national goal" for removing combat troops from Iraq by December 2008.

"The American people want this war over with," Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, ex-Marine and chairman of the House defense spending panel, declared on Tuesday.

Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens warned the Pentagon would run out of war funds in January, forcing it to shut down contracts and lay off suppliers of equipment to troops.

"I do believe Congress would break the Army if it refuses to provide the funds these forces need now," Stevens said. Pounding the table, he shouted at lawmakers, "You're not going home" this year until more money for the war is approved.

But his proposal to add $70 billion for the war was voted down.

U.S. CASUALTIES HIT RECORD

Separately, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, noted that recent casualties had made 2007 the bloodiest year for U.S. troops in Iraq. Seven deaths on Monday took the number of U.S. soldiers killed to 853 this year; the worst previous year was 2004, when 849 deaths were recorded.

The bill approved by members of the House and Senate appropriations committees provides about $460 billion for the core Pentagon budget for fiscal 2008, which began on Oct. 1. The funds would pay for everything from weapons systems to soldiers' salaries.

So far, Congress has given the Bush administration $604 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with about $412 billion spent in Iraq, according to the Congressional Budget Office, Congress' in-house budget analyst.

President George W. Bush is seeking another $196 billion for combat in Iraq and Afghanistan through next Sept. 30. Democrats say they will consider that request next year.

Murtha said negotiators did include one item from Bush's war request, in the core Pentagon funding bill -- $11.6 billion for armored vehicles to protect troops from roadside bombs. He also noted the Pentagon bill was $39.7 billion higher than the previous year.

The bill has a 3.5 percent pay raise for troops. It cuts $85 million from Bush's request to build a European missile shield that Moscow opposes. Murtha said that would keep the administration from starting construction on the missile site in Poland, although radars in the Czech Republic were funded. (Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by David Alexander and Cynthia Osterman)

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