| Veterans
News Flash 
House
OKs War Funds, New GI Bill
By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jun 20, 3:55 AM ET
A much-delayed Iraq war funding
bill sailed through the House on Thursday, along
with a doubling of college aid for returning
troops and help for the unemployed and Midwestern
flood victims.
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.
SOURCE:
Yahoo News
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