The U.S. Senate approved linking $47 billion in domestic spending to more money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in a direct challenge to a veto threat by President George W. Bush.
Twenty-five Republicans joined 50 Democrats in supporting the domestic spending, which would extend jobless benefits and boost money to military veterans for college tuition. The money was linked to $165 billion the Senate also approved today to pay for the wars through June 2009.
White House Budget Director Jim Nussle said lawmakers were holding the troops ``hostage to billions in unrelated spending,'' and reiterated that the measure would be vetoed because it exceeds Bush's spending request.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Bush should heed ``the call of a bipartisan, veto-proof majority of Congress and the thousands of veterans who know we owe our veterans the support they deserve.''
Some Republicans said the educational benefits are so generous they would persuade too many troops to leave the military, hurting retention rates. Still more than half of the Republicans voted to defy Bush rather than oppose funds for military veterans in an election year.
Unemployment Benefits
The spending measure approved today extends unemployment benefits for 13 weeks and provides money for police programs and construction of Louisiana levees. It offers military veterans more money for tuition, fees and books for college.
``When it comes to Iraq, it appears that money is no object for President Bush,'' West Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd said. ``Yet when it comes to important priorities here at home, he turns into Ebenezer Scrooge.''
Some Republicans also said that a competing Republican veterans' proposal that would have given more benefits to those with longer military service should have been considered.
``The procedure being employed here is bad for the country; it's bad for the Senate,'' South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said. ``We need to help those that leave, but for God's sake, reward those who stay.''
Obama, Clinton Vote
Both Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Clinton of New York came off the campaign trail to vote for the veterans-education program.
``This is a full and fair benefit to serve the men and women who serve us,'' Clinton, a New York senator, said of the veterans-education measure.
It also sparked a sharp exchange between Illinois Senator Obama and Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who didn't attend the vote.
Obama criticized McCain for opposing the veterans measure. |
