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House OKs $96.7 billion for war efforts, foreign aid
Bill would also block release of Gitmo detainees in the U.S.
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Published: May 15, 2009
WASHINGTON - Despite Democrats' rising anxiety about Afghanistan, the House easily passed yesterday a $96.7 billion bill that fills President Obama's request for war spending and foreign-aid efforts there and in Iraq.
Some 51 Democrats broke with Obama, who is sending thousands more troops into Afghanistan, but all but a handful of Republicans stood behind the president to produce a 368-60 tally. Republicans supported the bill even though majority Democrats added almost $12 billion to Obama's $85 billion request.
The bill would increase total financing provided by Congress for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars above $900 billion.
Across Capitol Hill, a key Senate committee approved a companion $91.3 billion bill that sticks closely to Obama's war request and also includes $50 million for the Pentagon to begin the promised closure of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The issue of closing Guantanamo is dealt with in the House bill as well -- not with money but with a promise that detainees from the prison will not be released on U.S. soil. A new provision, however, anticipates that some of the 241 detainees at Guantanamo will be transferred to the United States to stand trial or serve their sentences.
A separate conflict over the war-funding bill concerns whether it should provide a $108 billion U.S. contribution to the International Monetary Fund as part of an expanded $500 billion IMF loan fund, a cornerstone of last month's Group of 20 nations summit in London to assist poor countries struggling through the global economic downturn.
Obama officially requested the IMF funding late Tuesday, and the request was immediately incorporated into the Senate version by Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The IMF contribution would cost U.S. taxpayers about $5 billion since the government is issued interest-bearing assets in return for the contribution.
House Republicans oppose adding the IMF money to the war-funding bill, and their votes will be needed to pass the final House-Senate compromise bill, given the opposition of anti-war Democrats.
As for the military spending, during the Bush administration many Democrats stressed their opposition to the war in Iraq while supporting efforts against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan. But an increasing number of party liberals are skeptical of success in Afghanistan.
Chief among them is Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., the author of the House legislation as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. But for now he is giving Obama a chance to demonstrate greater progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"This is a bill that I have very little confidence in," Obey said. "I think we have a responsibility to give a new president -- who did not get us into this mess -- the best possible opportunity to get out of it."
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., is opposing the infusion of war funds. He's not impressed with Obama's plans on Afghanistan.
"Sometimes great presidents make mistakes, and sometimes great presidents make even great mistakes. I hope that doesn't happen here," McGovern said. "As the mission has grown bigger, the policy has grown even more vague."
Both the House and Senate bills largely follow Obama's military request for the wars. But the House version adds $11.8 billion, including almost $4 billion for new weapons and such military equipment as cargo planes, mine-resistant vehicles, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Stryker armored vehicles. The bill also adds $2.2 billion to Obama's request for foreign aid -- much of which appears to be designed to get around spending limits for 2010.
The $91.3 billion Senate bill includes Obama's $1.5 billion emergency request to fight a potential flu pandemic, while the House would add about $500 million to the request -- even as the recent swine flu scare appears to be abating.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted unanimously yesterday in favor of its version of the spending bill. Most of that money, about $73 billion, would go to the Defense Department to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the extra 21,000 troops being sent to Afghanistan.
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