US Senate Democrats won a key vote on Tuesday that clears the way for setting a date by which most US troops would be required to leave Iraq, CBS News reported.

Democrats defeated by a vote of 50-48 the Republican effort to strip language from the US$122 billion Iraq supplemental spending bill that will require most combat soldiers to leave Iraq within a year, according to the report.

Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel and Gordon Smith voted with the Democrats.

The victory likely will be symbolic because US President George W. Bush said he will veto the legislation.

Moreover, Democrats are unsure if they would prevail until the end of the vote.

"We don't know how it's going to turn out," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said. "We won't know until the vote's over."

He added that the legislation is "supported by the vast majority of the American people."

The House has already passed legislation requiring troops to be withdrawn by Sept. 1 next year.

(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2007)