Senate approves Defense spending bill

The Senate passed its $368.6 billion fiscal 2004 Defense spending bill Thursday night, although Democrats proved tireless in their efforts to hammer the Bush administration on what they characterized as failures related to the war with Iraq. The Senate vote was 95-0.

Earlier, Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, declared there would be no votes Friday, signaling his intention to finish the measure late Thursday and move Monday to the $28.5 billion Homeland Security measure.

An amendment by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., that would withhold $50 million in funding until President Bush reports to Congress on the handling of Iraq-related intelligence, was tabled on a 62-34 vote.

The Senate also defeated, 71-24, an amendment by Appropriations ranking member Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., to increase funding for the president's global AIDS initiative to $3 billion.

A proposal by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., to block funding for outsourcing of Pentagon jobs without fair competition for federal employees was accepted without a vote.

Earlier, the Senate passed another Byrd amendment, 81-15, expressing a sense of Congress that extended overseas missions should be funded by the regular budget process, not through supplemental requests.