Bush signs $94.5 bln war, hurricane funding bill
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-16 19:26
CONTROVERSIAL CUTS
Bowing to a Bush veto threat, the compromise bill had $14.4 billion less in
funds than the legislation originally passed by the Senate. Negotiators dumped
many projects, including about $3.5 billion in disaster aid for farmers outside
the hurricane area, the relocation of a Mississippi railroad and some funds for
veterans.
But the bill maintained $2.3 billion in new funds Bush requested to prepare
for a possible avian flu pandemic.
House-Senate negotiators also restored $47 million in foreign aid to Egypt
that the Senate had voted in May to cut. The plan had been to give that money to
Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and possibly Somalia for famine and disaster relief.
Lawmakers also slipped into the emergency bill unrelated language setting a
$873 billion cap on federal spending for discretionary programs this fiscal
year. The move came after the House and Senate were unable to agree on a budget.
Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter, who was the only senator to vote
against the emergency bill, did so because the new budget cap did not include $7
billion he wanted for additional health and education funding.
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