WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressional negotiators, battered by weeks of budgetary conflict with the White House, yesterday approved a special $28.9 billion appropriation to fund the military and homeland security activities through September, the Washington Post reports.
The bill comes within $100 million of what the administration said it could live with, enabling President Bush to claim a victory in his quest to impose “fiscal discipline” on Congress. But it also funds numerous priorities of lawmakers, including $200 million in aid to Israel and a $205 million no-strings-attached grant to Amtrak.
The measure provides about $500 million more than the president originally proposed. It includes $14.3 billion for the Pentagon, to replenish accounts drawn down by the war on terrorism; $6.7 billion for homeland security; and $5.5 billion in new aid for New York, hardest hit in the Sept. 11 attacks. The measure also includes substantial military and development aid for new U.S. allies in Central Asia, and adds $10 million to improve security at embassies abroad.
At the same time, the bill responds to rising pressure in Congress for spending on high-priority domestic programs. It sets aside money for veterans’ health, college scholarships, western firefighting and relief for flood victims. It contains $44 million for the District of Columbia that was not requested by the White House.
House-Senate negotiators allocated $2 million to begin designing a new facility to house the Smithsonian Institution’s animal and insect specimens, spending that the White House said did not qualify as an emergency need.
Nevertheless, a White House spokeswoman said Bush was “encouraged and looks forward to reviewing the details.” She said the administration was pleased that Congress met the president’s spending goal while providing new money for military training and airport safety.
Since Bush first asked for the funds in March, progress had been stalled as the White House insisted on its spending ceiling in the face of a costlier Senate proposal.
Republicans and Democrats in both chambers worked in unusually close tandem to craft a bill acceptable to Bush, eventually agreeing on $2.9 billion in budget cuts to make room for congressional priorities and end the impasse with the White House.
“If it were not for [Sen.] Ted Stevens [Alaska],” ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, “we wouldn’t be here this morning,” said committee Chairman Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) at yesterday’s final meeting of the House-Senate conferees.
“Thank God this isn’t the All-Star game,” which ended in a tie, cracked Rep. David R. Obey (Wis.), ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.
Budget officials cautioned that the bill’s true cost could be higher than $28.9 billion. One provision allows an extra $4.5 billion to be spent next year outside the formula used to dole out highway construction money. The recent recession led to a shortfall in gasoline tax receipts, which set the level for highway projects under the formula.
The bill also closes a loophole in U.S. trade law that textile state lawmakers charged was being used by South American exporters to undercut U.S. manufacturers, threatening 100,000 American jobs. House GOP leaders worked to close the loophole, a special priority for Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) whose district is a textile center. He faces a tough reelection fight after redistricting.
However, the conferees sidestepped appeals by lawmakers in both chambers for help in stopping an exodus of rural doctors to urban centers with more generous Medicare payment programs.
House Republicans were preparing to use procedural tactics to strike from a Treasury funding bill a provision that would deny federal contracts to U.S. companies that use offshore tax havens. The House is scheduled to debate the measure Tuesday.
Yesterday, the Senate passed a military construction spending bill, 96 to 3, and the House approved a measure funding Congress and its agencies in 2003, 365 to 49. The Senate Appropriations Committee, meanwhile, approved bills covering the departments of Defense, Commerce, State, Justice, Labor and Health and Human Services.