(Reuters circulated the following article by Richard Cowan on February 14.)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Wednesday passed a $463.5 billion bill to keep the federal government operating through September 30, leaving most decisions on Democratic spending priorities for next year’s round of bills that will be written in coming weeks.
By a vote of 81-15, the Senate passed the money bill that was approved on January 31 by the U.S. House of Representatives. It did so with only a day to spare before a temporary funding bill was set to expire.
Without this legislation, scores of federal agencies would have had to shut down for lack of funding. The measure now goes to President George W. Bush for signing into law.
Weeks ago, the new, Democratic-controlled Congress decided to avoid a legislative logjam by extending fiscal 2006 funding for most domestic programs into the current year.
This year’s spending legislation came nearly five months late because the Republican-controlled Congress failed to finish nine of the 11 regular fiscal 2007 appropriations bills last year. Only funding for the Defense Department and for domestic security were enacted.
As a result, the new Democratic-controlled Congress combined the remaining spending bills into one gigantic measure that mostly funds the government at last year’s levels.
Work on fiscal 2008 spending bills already has begun.
The fiscal 2007 money would be used to help operate thousands of government functions, including housing and nutrition for the poor, various education programs and the Amtrak passenger railroad. It also funds outer space exploration, air traffic controllers and transportation systems.
The legislation has some funding increases reflecting Democrats’ priorities.
A $1.3 billion increase in spending on the international fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis was included, as well as a $3.6 billion increase for veterans health care as U.S. combat casualties in Iraq mount.
Senate Republicans complained that the bill reduced Bush’s request, by $3.1 billion, for funds to close obsolete military bases and to pay for construction at others. They said the change could delay the return of some U.S. troops serving in Germany and other foreign posts.
But Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, said that money would be added back in when a $100 billion emergency spending bill, mainly for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is crafted next month.
The legislation also put on hold “earmarks,” those special interest projects that often were inserted into annual spending bills without adequate congressional oversight. The practice may have contributed to Republican defeats in last November’s elections.