House Approves Supplemental War, Domestic Spending
by Craig Jennings, 6/20/2008
Spending bill sent to Senate
Yesterday evening (Thurs.), the House approved a pair of amendments to the war supplemental spending bill that would found the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and would provide funding for exetended unemployment benefits, expanded GI bill benefits, and a host other domestic spending provisions.
By a vote of 268-155, the House approved $161.8 billion in war funding. And by a vote of 416-12, it approved some $92 billion in domestic spending.
The package has been sent to the Senate, where it will be considered sometime next week. The president has expressed support for the bill and will likely sign it when it reaches his desk.
The following table comes from the House Appropriations Committee press release:
Emergency Supplemental - Appropriations Breakdown (in millions of dollars) | ||
| Amendment #1 | Bush Request | House Bill |
| Department of Defense 2008 | 100,054 | 99,506 |
| Department of Defense 2009 | 66,063 | 65,921 |
| Subtotal Amendment #1 | 166,117 | 165,427* |
| Amendment #2 | ||
| Foreign Aid State Department/USAID FY08 State Department/USAID FY09 PL480 Food Aid FY08 PL480 Food Aid FY09 |
9,423 5,074 3,605 350 395 |
10,089 5,164 3,680 850 395 |
| Military Construction & VA Hospitals | 2,438 | 4,642 |
| Disaster Relief FEMA Disaster Relief Account Army Corps of Engineers SBA —Disaster Loans Agriculture Assistance |
0 0 0 0 0 |
2,650 1,297 606 267 480 |
| Louisiana Levees (FY09) | 5,761 | 5,761 |
| Louisiana Housing Vouchers | 0 | 73 |
| Department of Justice | 186 | 271 |
| Program Shortfalls FDA Bureau of Prisons Census Cost Overruns Increased UI Claims Science |
0 0 0 0 0 0 |
1,048 150 178 210 110 400 |
| Veterans Education Benefits — Admin. Costs | 0 | 120 |
| Defense Reduction | -- | -3,578 |
| Death Benefit — Mrs. Lantos | 0 | 0.169 |
| Subtotal Amendment #2 | 17,758 | 21,075 |
| TOTAL COST FOR APPROPRIATIONS ITEMS | 183,876 | 186,502 |
Estimates for GI Benefits and Unemployment Extension | ||
| 2 Year Estimate | 11 Year Estimate | |
| Expanded GI Benefits | $769 million | $62.8 billion |
| Unemployment Extension | $12.5 billion | $8.2 billion |
| (*see reduction in Amendment #2) | ||
