(Updates throughout) BAGHDAD, June 23 (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament voted on Saturday to cut its summer holiday by a month to focus efforts on passing laws Washington views as crucial to healing Iraq's deep sectarian divide. Lawmakers said the current session of parliament would be extended until the end of July. U.S. officials have been urging parliament to either scrap its July-August summer holiday or reduce the two-month break so legislators can speed up passage of a package of key laws. The move is likely to be welcomed by U.S. President George W. Bush but it is largely symbolic as the bills have yet to be presented to parliament for debate. They include laws on sharing revenues from Iraq's huge oil reserves more equitably, holding provincial elections and allowing former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to return to the government and military. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said last week that the drafts were ready and would be presented to parliament this week, but that did not happen. Parliamentary committees dealing with the draft laws would not take any summer break, one lawmaker said. Washington believes the laws will boost the participation of minority Sunni Arabs in the political process and undermine sectarian militant groups who are locked in a cycle of violence that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis.
