The latest exchange between the Democratic majority of Congress and President Bush and other Republicans over money for the Iraq war ended in another standoff last week.

Mr. Bush had asked for more than $190 billion with no strings attached as supplemental funding to the nearly $500 billion Department of Defense appropriations bill that was already passed. The Congress offered him $50 billion, with the condition that withdrawal of most U.S. forces be completed by the end of 2008. The House of Representatives passed the $50 billion measure, but without the two-thirds majority needed to overcome a presidential veto. The Senate, faced with the same conundrum and a Republican threat of a filibuster, threw in its hand Friday, abandoning the bill.

The Democratic leadership does not intend to give up on fulfilling the mandate it sees to get out of the war. That leaves the Congress two alternatives. The first is not to give the Pentagon any further money beyond the adequate $482 billion it has been authorized. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is already threatening to start firing civilians and closing bases -- in congressional districts -- if he doesn't get more money. The Congress could call his hand by taking no further action on war funding requests.

The second option is to put forward another partial funding bill with withdrawal strings attached, and make the Republicans go through the same exercise, forcing them to put themselves on record as supporting the continued loss of American lives in Iraq. Although the military reports that attacks on them are down, this year's deaths have set a record for the four-year, eight-month war.

The Democrats might wish to raise the stakes by taking on the Republicans in the filibuster they keep threatening. Debate might not be especially enlightening for the public, but it would exact a price from the Republicans who would be tying up the Senate's work on other issues to maintain their minority position on the war. If a bill made its way through the thicket, the spotlight would be on Mr. Bush to veto it, making clear the hypocrisy behind his public solicitude for the well-being of the 160,000 troops he is keeping in Iraq.

It isn't good enough that the American people wait another 13 months for a new president and Congress to end this piece of deadly folly. This Congress has to keep trying.