Senate panel passes emergency funding bill

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Senate committee on Tuesday,
ignoring skyrocketing federal budget deficits, piled money onto
a spending bill for war and hurricane rebuilding to produce an
election-year measure that would spend about $107 billion.

Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Appropriations
Committee also eagerly approved more federal aid for farmers,
added $2.3 billion to fight a possible avian flu pandemic,
voted to give more aid to the U.S. fishing industry hurt by
Hurricane Katrina and spread dollars for other interests.

President George W. Bush had requested nearly $92 billion
to feed U.S. war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, continue
rebuilding Gulf Coast states hard hit by Hurricane Katrina and
other storms last year and to increase foreign aid.

The move to boost the spending level above the
administration’s original request “is cause for serious
concern,” said Scott Milburn, spokesman for the White House
Office of Management and Budget.

However, he welcomed the progress on moving the emergency
spending measure forward.

Last month, the House of Representatives approved the Bush
administration’s request for the emergency funds for this
fiscal year, which ends September 30.

But the Senate, which hopes to pass its version of the
legislation in late April, jacked up the price tag
significantly, leading one Republican Senate aide to say that
it will make for “an interesting” Senate floor debate.

The budget-busting bill comes as many congressional
Republicans are struggling to craft re-election campaigns on a
platform of fiscal responsibility, even as Republicans have
presided over a $3 trillion increase in U.S. debt since 2002.

The legislation could become even more bloated before the
full Senate passes it, as senators indicated they might seek
more money for projects ranging from levee rebuilding in New
Orleans to aid for dairy farmers and veterans’ health care.

ADDING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS

Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, said she would
block Senate confirmation of all new presidential appointees
until the administration comes forth with a $6 billion request
for levee protection and coastal restoration in Louisiana.

Landrieu acknowledged that the Senate Appropriations
Committee bill addressed some of her concerns by adding
“several hundred million dollars” for flood control protections
around New Orleans.

Landrieu also succeeded on Tuesday in doubling the panel’s
$600 million to build cottages for hurricane victims, instead
of relying on trailers for temporary housing.

Like the House-passed measure, the Senate bill would give
Bush his request for about $67 billion for the Defense
Department to wage wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The money is
in addition to the hundreds of billions being spent each year
on Pentagon programs.

With the added money, the running tab for the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan would total nearly $400 billion, with more than
three-quarters of that spent fighting in Iraq.

Mississippi was one of three southern states bearing the
brunt of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction last August and
Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, a Republican
from that state, added storm funding to the legislation.

As passed by his committee, $24.4 billion would be added to
about $70 billion already spent on disaster aid. The Bush
administration had requested about $5 billion less.

Farm state lawmakers seized upon the emergency spending
bill, winning about $3.8 billion in money to help farmers
recover from flooding last spring in the northern plains,
drought in the Midwestern Corn Belt, Gulf Coast flooding and
higher fuel costs.

The panel also approved more than $1 billion in new money
for the U.S. fishing industry that would rebuild storm-damaged
marinas, ice houses and help buy new fishing equipment.

Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, complaining
about “paper-thin port security,” won an additional $648
million to increase U.S. port inspections, hire more inspectors
and buy radiation-detection equipment. The legislation also
would provide $35.6 million for improved mine safety following
16 coal mining deaths in Byrd’s state this year.