Tsunami aid could increase to $1 billion

Congress might spend as much as $1 billion in relief and reconstruction aid connected to tsunami damage in South Asia, House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., said Friday.

In a C-SPAN interview, Lewis said he expects the White House's initial pledge of $350 million to increase and that appropriators would raise funding higher if necessary.

"I would be very surprised if there is not a need for more," Lewis said. "It could end up being closer to $1 billion."

Lewis said he would wait to move a supplemental spending bill until the damage is assessed. He said the timing remains unclear but that it could be "very quickly."

Aides this week said a request could be sent to Capitol Hill in the next few weeks, in time for lawmakers to consider the measure when they reconvene after Inauguration Day. House International Relations Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., has expressed an interest in authorizing a tsunami aid package before the actual spending bill. GOP leaders also are awaiting transmittal of a massive fiscal 2005 emergency funding request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which Pentagon officials told congressional staff this week could be as early as Feb. 14, a week after the president's fiscal 2006 budget submission. That prospect has led to speculation that defense and tsunami funds could be combined in one package.

Also complicating matters are immigration proposals from House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and others who aim to attach their proposals swiftly to a "must-pass" vehicle. Those measures could run into opposition in the Senate, which is cooler to the immigration proposals.

"There's a big difference in the Senate and House on that," said Lewis, who represents a border state, California.

If the military supplemental is delayed into March, as is being considered, that could provide impetus to move an initial tsunami aid package before the war request is sent. The new war supplemental, which could exceed $80 billion, will dwarf the initial tsunami aid package and could become a vehicle for a second round of tsunami relief. Aides also say they expect it to contain close to $1 billion for peacekeeping efforts in Haiti and several African countries, as well as funding for the new embassy in Baghdad.

Meanwhile, the State Department this week released its latest quarterly report on funding for the Iraq postwar reconstruction effort. Congress appropriated $18.4 billion for reconstruction as part of the $87.5 billion fiscal 2004 supplemental. The latest report shows total outlays for security and reconstruction costs of $2.2 billion as of Dec. 29, which is $1 billion more than the previous quarter.

"Insurgency and terrorism remain the most significant challenges to the reconstruction of Iraq," the report states. The slow pace of spending has led to calls for redirecting reconstruction funds to the tsunami aid effort. The White House and congressional Republicans such as House Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., argue that is the wrong approach.