The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to bar funding for a long-term base and also to prohibit the United States from controlling the oil in Iraq. Reps. Rob Bishop, a Republican, and Jim Matheson, a Democrat, voted for the ban.

A spokesman for Cannon, meanwhile, says Congress should not mandate where the U.S. military places its "strategic assets around the world."

Additionally, spokesman Fred Piccolo, said the language of the bill has already been signed into law by President Bush, making the whole thing moot.

"This bill, along with the entire [Democratic] agenda, belongs in the Department of Redundancy Department," Piccolo said.

Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.YÂ., the bill's sponsor, says America did not invade Iraq to occupy its land, control the country's oil or establish a permanent base.

"Yet among Iraqis the perception is that the establishment of permanent bases is precisely why we invaded," he said. "And the insurgents use that perception to recruit fighters and incite attacks on our troops."

tburr@sltrib.com