House panel approves Iraq supplemental
The House Appropriations Committee Thursday approved an $87 billion fiscal 2004 supplemental spending bill for the military occupation and reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan on a 47-14 vote, sending it to the floor for consideration next week.
Three Democrats-Reps. Bud Cramer of Alabama, Norman Dicks of Washington and Defense Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member John Murtha of Pennsylvania-sided with committee Republicans to defeat, 36-25, a substitute amendment by Appropriations ranking member David Obey, D-Wis., that would have shaved $4.6 billion from the $18.65 billion reconstruction title and added it back for the military; converted half the remaining $14 billion in reconstruction funds into a World Bank-administered loan; and suspended tax cuts in the wealthiest bracket to pay for the entire package.
Obey argued that soldiers' needs were underfunded in the version of the bill prepared by Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., and that his loan provision, which would require $3.5 billion in matching international assistance, could leverage up to $42 billion in World Bank loans.
"Iraq is in a better position to repay international loans than the United States," Obey said, citing the nation's oil reserves.
The administration and GOP leaders have lobbied heavily against conversion of reconstruction grants into a loan, arguing that it would undermine the U.S. position at the Oct. 23-24 donors' conference in Madrid.
House Minority Leader Pelosi earlier endorsed the Obey alternative and criticized Republicans for their "PR offensive" to boost public support for the Bush administration's Iraq policy. "Left to their own devices, they did not adequately equip our troops. Left to their own devices, they had a failed post-war policy in Iraq," she said.
Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., offered but then withdrew his amendment to convert half the reconstruction funds into a loan, citing a lack of votes. President Bush personally lobbied him today as well as Wednesday, and was "very passionate" that the money should be grants, Wamp said.
"I asked the president if, in his heart of hearts, he thought my amendment would ruin the situation in Iraq," he said. "And he looked me in the eye and said, 'Yes, I do.' "
Members on both sides of the aisle, including Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick, D-Mich., and Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ernest Istook, R-Okla., sided with Wamp's position and argued for changes to be made in conference.
Young offered a managers' amendment that would require aid provided under the bill to be coordinated by a Senate-confirmed official such as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, not just White House National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
The managers' amendment would also add $150 million for damages related to Hurricane Isabel and increase military construction spending. It would also require intelligence reports on sponsors of terrorist attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., won a voice vote for his amendment to require an analysis of the Air Force's plan to lease converted Boeing 767 airliners for use as refueling tankers, but his amendment was defeated 33-28 when Obey called for a recorded vote.
Meanwhile, a group of House Democrats led by Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and Lloyd Doggett of Texas said they were mustering opposition to the measure on the floor. At the prompting of Democrats, the House Budget Committee has agreed to hold a hearing next Thursday on the supplemental measure, allowing the measure to go to the floor later that day.