WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) – A senior Senate Democrat said on April 22 that he wants to use a major defense policy bill to expand federal hate crimes laws to protect gays, bring troops home from Iraq and force Baghdad to pay more toward reconstruction costs.

The effort would raise the flag on major issues favored by the party’s base. But only the reconstruction provision is considered to have a chance at passing – and even that proposal’s prospects would depend heavily on Republican cooperation.

Slim margins in Congress, particularly in the Senate where 60 votes are needed to overcome procedural hurdles, have kept Democrats from enacting much of their legislative agenda since taking control last year.

Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, suggested Democrats will try anyway, starting with a measure that would prohibit U.S. money from being spent on reconstruction and possibly other war-related costs. Levin, D-Mich., who plans to meet this week with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the issue, says Iraq should use its massive oil profits to cover rebuilding efforts.

GOP lawmakers have signaled a willingness to back such a measure, depending on how it is written. Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Bob Corker of Tennessee and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire have proposed separate proposals that call for Iraq or its neighbors to pay more for reconstruction.

Levin’s measure would be proposed as part of the 2009 defense authorization bill, policy legislation that guides defense spending and the acquisition and management of all military programs.

The Democratic chairman also said he hopes a broader hate-crimes law becomes part of the debate. Last year, Democrats tried to attach a similar measure to the defense authorization bill but backed down after Republican protests threatened to sink the bill.

“Diversity and tolerance and hate crimes runs smack against what the men and women of the American armed forces fight for,” Levin told reporters April 22.

In addition, Democrats are expected to revive legislation that would force President Bush to withdraw troops from Iraq by a certain date. Levin said this proposal could be offered on the defense authorization bill, or earlier when the Senate considers a separate war spending bill.

Democrats have repeatedly failed to pass such legislation in the past, falling short of the 60 votes needed in the Senate.

The committee plans to complete the defense authorization bill by the end of next week, with a floor vote expected by the end of May.

On a separate matter, Levin was preparing a letter to Gates calling for the Defense Department to end a public relations effort that relied on retired military officers to defend the administration’s war policies and tout progress being made in Iraq.

According to a report this week by The New York Times, the officers – acting as military analysts for major news outlets – were given plum access to the Pentagon with regular briefings by then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and a sponsored trip to the much-criticized military prison Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Levin said his primary concern is that many of these officers were working for defense contractors at the time and were given unfettered access to the Defense Department in exchange for speaking favorably about the war.

“This is very clear evidence of conflicts of interest ... and it’s very disturbing,” Levin said.