GOP leader seeks to block extra homeland security spending

Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., today again urged quick Senate action on the fiscal 2002 Defense appropriations and supplemental bill, and criticized the proposal by Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., to add roughly $15 billion in extra homeland security and domestic recovery money to the bill.

Sounding a theme Republicans are sure to emphasize if the bill bogs down on the floor, Lott said Democrats are "playing with a very important bill in the wrong way at the wrong time" if they continue to defy Bush's veto threats over the extra spending.

The bill is slated for committee markup Tuesday, and to date Byrd has kept his ultimate strategy under wraps--leaving Lott to say to reporters today, "You can't develop a strategy until you see what you're dealing with." But if Byrd pursues his amendment on the floor, Lott said Republicans "certainly ... would have to look at opposing that."

Meanwhile, the White House announced today the release of another $699 million from the $20 billion in emergency supplemental funds it was given control over in the $40 billion package enacted in the wake of Sept. 11. This brings to $19.7 billion the total amount the White House has released from its half of the supplemental to date--leaving roughly $300 million for the administration to allocate.

Included in this release are funds for the Defense Department to increase situational awareness and improve command and control, as well as economic development funds for Northern Virginia, compensation for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, funding for increased overtime and travel for Secret Service officers, and funds for heightened security at the Capitol.