House OKs war funds, unemployment benefits
WASHINGTON (AP) - June 19, 2008 Republican allies of President Bush provided the winning margin
in a 268-155 vote to provide $162 billion to fund U.S. operations
in Iraq and Afghanistan well into next year.
Democrats opposed to the war, however, succeeded in using the
Iraq funding bill as an engine to drive past White House resistance
a sweeping revision to GI Bill college benefits and a 13-week
extension of unemployment checks for those whose benefits have run
out.
Lawmakers separately approved those domestic add-ons by a 416-12
vote, sending the combined bill to the Senate for a vote next week.
The White House issued a statement supporting the legislation.
The measure also provides a quick $2.7 billion infusion of
emergency flood relief for the Midwest, though more is expected to
be needed to deal with the major losses in Iowa, Illinois and other
states.
The bill would bring to more than $650 billion the amount
provided by Congress for the war in Iraq since it started five
years ago. Nearly $200 billion in additional funding has gone to
operations in Afghanistan, according to congressional analysts.
It also would give Bush's successor several months to set Iraq
policy after taking office in January - and spares lawmakers the
need to cast more war funding votes closer to Election Day.
"The way it's been set up now, whoever ... is president will
have a few months to think through how we are going to extricate
ourselves," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman David
Obey, D-Wis., a key negotiator.
The relatively brief debate featured only glimpses of the
bitterness that consumed Congress last year as the new Democratic
majority tried - and failed - to force troop withdrawals and other
limits on Bush's ability to conduct the war. Most war opponents
expressed frustration and a sense of resignation at having to yield
to the lame duck president.
"The president basically gets a blank check to dump this war on
the next president," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. "I was
hoping George Bush would end his war while he's president."
Republicans cited progress in Iraq since Bush beefed up troop
levels last year in an effort to create stability in the war-torn
nation.
"Our troops have made tremendous gains, and forcing them to
reverse course - as most in the Democratic majority want them to do
- would be both irresponsible and reckless," said Minority Leader
John Boehner, R-Ohio.
The new GI Bill essentially would guarantee a full scholarship
at any in-state public university, along with a monthly housing
stipend, for people who serve in the military for at least three
years. It is aimed at replicating the benefits awarded veterans of
World War II and more than doubles the value of the benefit - from
$40,000 today to $90,000.
The GI Bill measure, authored by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., had such
extraordinary support from both Democrats and Republicans that
White House objections were easily overridden.
Administration representatives sought to curb its costs in
closed-door talks, Obey said. Instead, the chief concession by
Democrats was to add an administration-backed plan - costing $10
billion over 10 years - allowing veterans to transfer their
benefits to their spouse or a child.
The White House tried much harder to kill the effort to extend
unemployment benefits as part of the war funding bill. Just two
weeks ago, it appeared the administration would probably prevail.
But after the unemployment rate jumped a half-percentage point to a
nationwide average of 5.5 percent, House Democrats engineered a
veto-proof tally in support of the 13-week extension.
In late-stage talks with Boehner, a key figure in negotiating
the overall agreement, Democrats dropped a plan to extend
unemployment benefits for an additional 13 weeks in states with
particularly high unemployment rates. They also agreed to require
people to have worked for 20 weeks in order to be eligible for the
extended payments.
In another key concession, House Democrats dropped a provision
to pay for the GI college benefits by imposing a half-percentage
point income tax surcharge on incomes exceeding $500,000 for single
taxpayers and incomes over $1 million earned by married couples.
The move was long expected, but nonetheless riled moderate and
conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats upset that rules requiring
additions to federal benefit programs be paid for with additional
revenues or offsetting cuts to other programs.
Democrats, many Republicans and governors across the country
emerged the victors in a battle with the White House to block new
Bush administration rules designed to cut spending on Medicaid
health care for the poor and disabled.
On war spending, the bill would prohibit U.S. money from being
spent on Iraq reconstruction efforts unless Baghdad matches every
dollar spent. But negotiators dropped a demand that Bush negotiate
an agreement with Baghdad to subsidize the U.S. military's fuel
costs so troops operating in Iraq aren't paying any more than Iraqi
citizens are.
Last month, after a bitter debate, the House passed the
unemployment benefits extension, the GI Bill improvements and a
series of restrictions on Bush's ability to conduct the war. The
war funding part of the legislation failed amid the partisanship.
The Senate restored the war funding and folded in more than $10
billion in additional non-war spending backed by Republicans and
Democrats alike. Most of that money is now eliminated.