House approves supplemental spending bill

CAPITOL HILL The House has overwhelmingly approved an 81-point-four (b) billion dollar supplemental spending bill to pay for U-S operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The vote was 388-to-43 on the bill, which would push the total spent so far on the two wars to more than 300 (b) billion dollars.

The bill contains about 500 (m) million dollars less for the war-related efforts than the president wanted.

In a defeat for the White House, none of the money in the bill can be used to build a new U-S embassy in Baghdad, despite intense lobbying by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The Senate won't vote on its version of the bill until next month.

A White House statement says the president is concerned that the legislation doesn't pay enough for matters urgent to the administration.

http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=3085698

...and the Pentagon have total freedom to spend and waste the entire $81.4 billion without so much as a receipt and come back to congress for more in six months or less.

eom

None of the money can be used to build the Embassy Bush wanted.

There is virtually no accounting. How much has simply disappeared-- $9 bn? Enough to make up for the embassy funding loss 18 times over.

I don't believe even with 300 dollar toliet seats one can spend
this much money on that small of a war.

It's reeks of major war payoffs/profiteering or funneling to other "projects".

Now that we have "privatization" of the military, it seems instead
of army personnel peeling potatoes, we have Halliburton potatoes
for 100x the cost but still.

when we need another 81B. junior keeps pulling these supplementals like they're twenty dollar bills from an ATM.

I have never seen a detailed list of what we're buying over there except for contractors walking away with bags of money and Hallibuton walking away with even more.

Only 43 votes against the war spending. Pathetic.

Is that what John Kerry meant when he said: "The Democratic Party is not an opposition party"?

I read this on Common Dreams

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0316-11.htm

How Did Your US Representative Vote?

Roll Call 77 - HR 1268 - Emergency Spending Package for Combat and Reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan

By a 388-43 vote, the House gave President Bush most of the money he had requested, with strong support from both Republicans and Democrats. The Senate will consider its version in April.

<snip>...The moves sent a signal to the president that while lawmakers would give troops what they needed, emergency spending packages for the war should only be used to pay for urgent matters.

"The reason for this supplemental is to provide as quickly as possible money flows in support of our troops," Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said in urging passage.

The White House said in a statement that while it supports the bill as a whole, the president is concerned that the legislation does not adequately pay for matters deemed urgent by the administration, including the State Department programs.

<snip>...The House bill provided $1.8 billion more for defense costs than the president had requested, reflecting a commitment on the part of both Republicans and Democrats to support U.S. troops.

Please read more: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0316-11.htm

pffft.