|
|
|
|
|
Bush signs $94.5 bln war, hurricane funding bill Reuters / Richard Cowan | June 16 2006 President Bush on Thursday signed into law a $94.5 billion compromise emergency bill to fund the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and to rebuild after last year's hurricanes along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Bush signed the bill that was easily passed by the Senate earlier on Thursday, two days after it had cleared the House of Representatives. Under the law, $65.8 billion will be rushed to the Pentagon so it can continue fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan through September. "I am pleased that Congress has addressed these urgent national priorities within the spending limits I set," Bush said as the Senate passed the measure. Congress is also advancing separate legislation adding an additional $50 billion in war funds to keep combat operations running from October through March or so. The law also contains $19.8 billion to help Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and other states recovering from Hurricane Katrina and other storms. A large chunk of those funds would help New Orleans rebuild levees and other infrastructure. The 98-1 Senate vote came one day after it unanimously put the Bush administration on notice that it would have to improve its budget planning for the high cost of the Iraq war, which is nearing $320 billion. "I'm frustrated the administration keeps funding this war off-budget," said Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, just before the compromise passed. While Congress has overwhelmingly supported the emergency spending bills for troops fighting abroad, there is growing dissent over how long those troops should stay. The conflict has killed 2,500 U.S. military personnel and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians. Some Democrats criticized a provision in the bill that takes away funding for a special inspector to audit Iraq reconstruction contracts and shifts it to the State Department, which they said lacks expertise and resources to do the job. U.S. border security would be enhanced with additional money to dispatch National Guard troops to the southwest border and hire more agents to patrol. Critics said $1.9 billion instead should have been spent buying new equipment for existing agents. CONTROVERSIAL CUTS Bowing to a Bush veto threat, the compromise bill had $14.4 billion less in funds than the legislation originally passed by the Senate. Negotiators dumped many projects, including about $3.5 billion in disaster aid for farmers outside the hurricane area, the relocation of a Mississippi railroad and some funds for veterans. But the bill maintained $2.3 billion in new funds Bush requested to prepare for a possible avian flu pandemic. House-Senate negotiators also restored $47 million in foreign aid to Egypt that the Senate had voted in May to cut. The plan had been to give that money to Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and possibly Somalia for famine and disaster relief. Lawmakers also slipped into the emergency bill unrelated language setting a $873 billion cap on federal spending for discretionary programs this fiscal year. The move came after the House and Senate were unable to agree on a budget. Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter, who was the only senator to vote against the emergency bill, did so because the new budget cap did not include $7 billion he wanted for additional health and education funding. ---------------------------------------------------
Prison Planet.tv: The Premier Multimedia Subscription Package: Download and Share the Truth! Please help our fight against the New World Order by giving a donation. As bandwidth costs increase, the only way we can stay online and expand is with your support. Please consider giving a monthly or one-off donation for whatever you can afford. You can pay securely by either credit card or Paypal. Click here to donate. |
