WASHINGTON — Senator Clinton voted yesterday to advance legislation cutting off money for the Iraq war, but she declined to say whether she would support the measure if it comes to a final vote.

“I’m not going to speculate on what I’m going to be voting on in the future,” the New York senator and Democratic presidential candidate said when asked by reporters whether she favored the troop withdrawal legislation.

Mrs. Clinton sided with 28 other senators who lost a procedural vote on the measure offered by Senator Feingold, a Democrat of Wisconsin. The amendment would have cut off money for combat operations after March 2008.

Mrs. Clinton has resisted calls from those within her own party to impose a specific deadline on troop withdrawal in Iraq — a position that has at times resulted in her being booed by anti-war activists.

“This is consistent with what I’ve been saying for several years,” she said. Even as she denied there were any mixed signals in her votes and statements on a troop withdrawal, she criticized what she called growing confusion caused by President Bush’s Iraq policy, including the appointment this week of a “war tsar.” Mrs. Clinton said she wants her vote to send a message to Iraqi leaders that they have to do more to stabilize their country before America will commit to a longer troop presence there.