Absent Defense bill, negotiators advance $715 billion spending package

House-Senate negotiators approved a $715 billion spending package for the departments of Veterans Affairs, Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Thursday, sending it to the floor for consideration in both chambers next week.

By far the largest portion of the combined bill is mandatory veterans' benefits, Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlement spending that grows automatically and is not part of any dispute.

But President Bush says he will veto the measure over an additional $10 billion above his request for the portion set by annual appropriations funding services for the poor, worker safety, education and medical research.

Republican leaders claim they have the votes to sustain a veto.

Overall, Democrats are seeking about $22 billion more than the president wants for domestic programs. Another chunk of that increase might be approved by a conference committee next week, with a meeting tentatively scheduled for Thursday to consider the Commerce-Justice-Science and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development measures.

House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., sought to woo GOP support on the first "mini-bus" package by adding items backed by Republicans, including abstinence-only education funds.

He also agreed to drop plans to attach $470 billion in Pentagon spending, about which Republicans had complained bitterly.

Republicans still oppose combining the remaining two bills -- Labor-HHS and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs -- which they say will slow down funding for veterans' health and military facilities as Labor-HHS talks drag out.

Republican senators are threatening to raise a point of order, allowed under the Democrats' new ethics rules, requiring 60 votes to keep the combined package intact.

Obey is gambling that enough Republicans will be cowed by the prospect of voting to strip veterans' funds from the package.

"If they succeed, they have screwed up the MilCon bill. If they want to take responsibility for that, be my guest," he said.

The underlying Military Construction-VA bill provides $4 billion more than Bush requested for veterans' programs and military facilities, which he says he would sign regardless.

The VA would receive $43.1 billion, which is $3.7 billion above the request. The bill provides $21.5 billion for military facilities, a $305.9 million increase above Bush's, with additional funds directed to National Guard and Reserve accounts.

Obey's approach has alienated Republican allies like House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member James Walsh, R-N.Y., who helped Obey draft the underlying bill and secured additional funds for graduate medical education, poison control centers, and education for children with disabilities. Obey is also chairman of the Labor-HHS subcommittee.

"By combining these two bills, we weaken their ability to be passed into law," Walsh said.

He noted that the Labor-HHS bill only fell a handful of votes short of a veto-proof majority on the House floor, and thus could be signed into law after a little negotiation.

But Obey said he did not think the administration had any interest in negotiating, which was made clear in a meeting with Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle.

"I was told very frankly and honestly by Mr. Nussle ... in his time at the White House he had found no one in any corner who was interested in the slightest bit of any compromise," Obey said.

Nussle reiterated Bush's veto threat in a letter to appropriators Thursday.

The Defense measure could move separately next week, Democrats said, although a final decision has not been made.

Part of the problem is how to handle additional war-related spending, as Democratic leaders are reluctant to adjourn for the year without at least ensuring troops serving overseas have adequate equipment.

Democrats added $11 billion for mine-resistant vehicles to the underlying $459.3 billion Defense appropriations bill before it was removed from the combined package.

Although scaled down from earlier proposals, anti-war House Democrats still balked at the price tag. Another option is to attach war funding to the next continuing resolution, which is certain to pass, as the alternative is a government shutdown.

Democratic leaders met Thursday night to discuss the matter.

On Thursday, Bush asked Democrats to respond at least in part to his $196.4 billion war-funding request.

Senate Appropriations ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., who unlike Bush is well-liked on both sides of the aisle, is also urging Democrats to act.

"Delays or funding restrictions should not be calibrated to leverage unrelated legislative or political objectives," Cochran wrote this week to Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.

For Democrats, the issue remains Bush's huge new war-funding request combined with a proposed 10 percent increase for the base defense budget and 12 percent more for foreign aid.

By contrast, "the president threatens to veto a Labor-HHS-Education bill because the Congress had the temerity to approve a 5 percent increase," said Byrd.

"We can sit like a bunch of potted plants and do not a damn thing, or we can try to figure out how we can salvage as much as possible in a phony debate with the president," Obey said. "These bills don't cause a significant increase in the deficit, but his $200 billion request for Iraq sure as hell does."

The Labor-HHS measure is $150.7 billion, $9.8 billion above the president's request. The Education Department would receive $60.7 billion, a 5.6 percent boost above last year and $601 million more than Bush requested for his signature No Child Left Behind programs.

Head Start preschool and nutrition services would receive a 2.2 percent boost to about $7 billion, rejecting a 1.5 percent cut proposed by Bush. The National Institutes of Health would be funded at $29.8 billion, or 3.1 percent above last year, a boost above both House and Senate-passed versions.

Low-income individuals and families would receive $2.4 billion to help pay heating bills, an 11.6 percent increase from last year. Community Services Block Grants for needy families, proposed for elimination by Bush, would instead receive $665 million, or 5.6 percent more than last year.