Bill to boost war spending has something for everyone

There is a lot of good news for "red" districts in the supplemental war spending bill Democrats unveiled Thursday, not to mention billions in added funding for politically sacrosanct veterans' health programs, military readiness and housing for troops returning from overseas.

Democrats nearly doubled Bush's request for Gulf Coast reconstruction aid to $6.3 billion, including extra money to build tougher levees in and around New Orleans, and added $400 million for low-income heating assistance that could make it tough for Republicans like Rep. Charles Boustany of Louisiana to oppose.

States like Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri that otherwise would have to cut off health insurance for low-income children would benefit from a $735 million cash infusion.

Midwest Republicans like Rep. Jerry Moran of Kansas, who lobbied hard for agriculture disaster aid, applauded the inclusion of $4.3 billion to help farmers and ranchers cope with drought, frost and floods. Blue Dog Democrats such as Rep. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota also worked to secure the funding.

Democrats extended a program for one year that provides payments to rural counties, largely in Oregon, that have suffered declining timber sales as a result of changes in federal forest policy during the 1990s.

About $400 million is included in the bill to help rural counties pay for road repairs, education and police after the program expired last year. "This truly is an emergency," said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., who worked closely with Oregon Democrats to obtain the funding.

Other additions like $2.5 billion for homeland security, including money to screen cargo at the nation's 361 seaports and being transported on airplanes, have broad appeal across the aisle as well. All told, Democrats added around $21 billion to Bush's $103 billion request, considerably fattening what was already the largest supplemental in history.

"The same people who came here promising fiscal responsibility and a balanced budget now want to spend money as badly as drunken sailors, with apologies to drunken sailors," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee. "Once again from the Democrat leadership, it will be all-you-can-eat at the all-pork buffet in their supplemental."

Republicans repeatedly said they would support only a "clean" supplemental, one without domestic add-ons and without the restrictions on troop deployments in Iraq that Democrats have included. Aides to Bush Thursday said he would veto the bill over the troop guidelines alone.

"What's going to happen is the president will veto this bill and we'll have to come back with a clean supplemental that funds the troops," said Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill.

That the bill funds the troops is not in question. The measure includes $95.5 billion for military operations, including $2.3 billion to cover the cost of fielding an additional 36,000 Army troops and 9,000 Marines. Democrats included the president's request for $2.4 billion to combat improvised explosive devices, and another $1.4 billion is included for new mine-resistant vehicles.

Defense and veterans' health is a major theme of the bill, with $3.5 billion above the request, and Democrats are taking steps toward rebuilding military readiness they say is at its lowest since Vietnam, with an added $2.5 billion to train and equip units not yet deployed overseas.

Hensarling acknowledged Democrats constructed the bill in a fashion that makes it difficult for Republicans to oppose.

"I didn't say they were foolish; I just said they were spendthrifts," he said. "What people try to do is hide their pork in the reinforcements and the equipment that our brave men and women need to fight for our freedom. It's not the first time that pork has been wrapped in Old Glory."