House and Senate conferees have just approved a $124.2 emergency war spending supplemental conference report. The report adopts the Senate version of the supplemental, which set a goal of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by April 1, 2008. That provision mandates a withdrawal to begin by Oct. 1, 2007, with a goal of completion 180 days later, if the president can certify that Iraqis have met certain benchmarks. If he fails to make that certification, "redeployment" would begin July 1, 2007, with a similar 180-day goal for completion. The benchmarks require reductions in sectarian violence, the easing of rules that purged the government of all former Baath Party members, and passage of an oil revenue-sharing law. The bill retains House-passed language setting requirements for resting, training and equipping troops, granting the president the authority to waive those restrictions as long as he publicly justifies the waivers. It also provides for a raise in the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour over two years -- the first such raise in close to a decade -- with a $4.8 billion dollar tax package. The House is expected to vote on the bill Wednesday, with the Senate vote expected on Thursday. The president has vowed repeatedly to veto the bill, despite the minimium wage hike and billions more for Katrina recovery, agriculture disaster aid, military base closings and construction, veterans' health programs -- and all the money he requested for the war.