Bush signs $94.5 bln war, hurricane funding bill
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-16 19:26
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.
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