Weldon initially introduced his proposal to the White House about a year ago, and has worked quietly behind the scenes to reach an agreement. But after 10 months of negotiations, Weldon is going forward on his own.

“I’ve tried to do this quietly with the administration over the last nine or 10 months,” he said. “I’ve had meeting after meeting, phone call after phone call, so now it’s time for me to do my job. I’m a legislator and I’ve put this in a legislative format.”

Yet Weldon is adamant that he is in no way undermining the president. He said he supports Bush and the war in Iraq. In Weldon’s view, his legislation is necessary to assure voters that the decision on when to pull out of Iraq will not be driven by political considerations. ~The Hill

Obviously if he is doing this on his own initiative now, the White House does not share his view that the legislation is necessary or desirable.  It sounds like they’ve been stringing him along for months to keep him from going public with the proposal, but couldn’t keep him from going ahead with his plan.  Prepare for the mass demonisation of Curt Weldon by every GOP flack there is.  It isn’t going to be pretty.