Democrats struggle over war funding bill
WASHINGTON—Democrats running Congress struggled Thursday to write an Iraq war funding bill that can both pass through their fractious ranks and also be signed by President Bush.
Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., acknowledged the House is unlikely to vote on the measure next week as he had originally hoped.
House and Senate Democrats disagree over how much to add to Bush's $108 billion war request in the face of a White House veto threat.
House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey of Wisconsin are pushing to avoid a veto, while Senate Democrats continue to press add-ons.
"We would rather just save time and get it over with right from the start," Pelosi told reporters Thursday.
Pelosi said, however, that she is "pushing very strongly" to add a new college benefits package to the measure for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Democrats are also eyeing another $12.7 billion plan to give 13 more weeks of unemployment checks to people whose benefits have run out and 13 weeks beyond that in states with especially high unemployment rates.
Bush has said unequivocally that he will veto legislation exceeding his request, though administration aides say he is willing to accept up to $70 billion in 2009 funding for Iraq and Afghanistan, which would include a few other items such as a $770 million request for additional international food aid announced Thursday.
In the Senate, Democratic leaders are less fearful of a Bush veto as they sift through proposed add-ons to the war funding bill. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is leading the negotiations, and he sought Thursday to dampen any expectations of a speedy resolution.
Lawmakers and the White House have spoken of a Memorial Day deadline to finish the bill. But Reid said there remains enough funding in non-war Pentagon accounts to fund the war effort into June.
"We will do our best to finish this by the Memorial Day break," said Reid. "But if we don't it's no big deal, there is money there."
Exiting a late afternoon meeting with Pelosi, Reid said slow progress was being made.
"We're not done yet, that's for sure," Reid told reporters.
Meanwhile, negotiators on the core war funding request have trimmed it back slightly, producing savings that could be used to ease shortfalls in a few areas, such as the troubled decennial Census, the Bureau of Prisons and firefighting accounts.
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