[R-G] Pentagon budget hits new record in spending bill

Wed Sep 24 09:53:36 MDT 2008

Pentagon budget hits new record in spending bill
September 24, 2008 - 10:08am
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=116&sid=1419749#

By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon budget would rise to a new record while  
U.S. automakers and victims of hurricanes and floods would receive  
billions of dollars in a $630 billion-plus omnibus spending bill  
rushing toward the House floor Wednesday.

The year-end budget measure also would lift a quarter-century ban on  
drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and is flying  
under the political radar compared with a hugely controversial White  
House plan to bail out Wall Street.

The bill is fueled by a need to keep the government running past the  
Oct. 1 start of the 2009 budget year. Until now, Democrats had mostly  
punted on the need to pass the 12 annual spending bills funding agency  
operating budgets, but the 357-page measure released late Tuesday _  
along with 752 pages of accompanying explanations and tables of  
previously secret earmarks by lawmakers _ would close out about 60  
percent of the budget work Congress must pass each year.

That includes $488 billion for the Pentagon, $40 billion for Homeland  
Security Department programs and $73 billion for veterans programs and  
military base construction projects.

The bill would settle dozens of battles, big and small, between  
Democrats controlling Congress and the lame-duck Bush administration  
and its allies on Capitol Hill.

The most significant decision _ and a big win for Republicans in this  
politically charged election season _ came as Democrats capitulated on  
the question of lifting the offshore drilling ban. And the Bush  
administration succeeded in repelling efforts by Democrats to extend  
unemployment insurance, increase food stamp payments and help states  
deal with shortfalls in their Medicaid budgets.

Democratic leaders promised to bundle such items, along with billions  
for infrastructure projects, in a more than $50 billion measure they  
hope to advance later this week. It's expected to stall in the Senate.

Democrats won additional funding for heating subsidies for the poor  
and successfully pressed the White House for a more generous aid  
package for disaster-ravaged states like Texas and Iowa. A shortfall  
in Pell college aid grants would be averted, as would problems in the  
Women, Infants and Children program delivering healthy foods to the  
poor.

U.S. automakers would receive up to $25 billion in low-interest loans  
to help them develop technologies and retool factories to meet new  
standards for cleaner, more fuel efficient cars.

The bill would also eliminate the need for a much-dreaded,  
postelection lame-duck session to deal with unfinished work. The  
Senate is expected to send the bill to President Bush, who is expected  
to sign it.

The legislation came together in a remarkably secret process that  
concentrated decision-making power in the hands of just a few  
lawmakers, such as House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey,  
D-Wis., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

The rush to the floor also ran counter to Democratic promises for more  
open disclosure of billions of dollars worth of earmarks, those home- 
state pet projects sought by most lawmakers. Anti-earmark watchdogs  
such as Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and outside groups such as Taxpayers  
for Common Sense had but a few hours to scrutinize the legislation for  
up to $5 billion in defense-related earmarks before planned passage  
later Wednesday.

"Congress is being forced to approve a package that was created in a  
back room by a handful of Democrat leaders and staff. This legislation  
has never seen the light of day, and has had no oversight or scrutiny  
by the vast majority of representatives, senators, the media or the  
American public," said Rep. Jerry Lewis of California, senior  
Republican on the Appropriations Committee.

The secretive deliberations _ and the intense spotlight cast on the  
separate Wall Street bailout _ seemed to ensure that the spending  
measure would have a low profile. But that also meant Democrats will  
have to battle to remind voters of the gains made in funding for  
popular homeland security and veterans health programs.