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WASHINGTON - The House approved a $90-billion measure for veterans, housing and other programs for next year on Friday after Republican leaders overcame complaints that the measure would shortchange veterans' health care.
The chamber also voted 352-60 to approve a separate bill providing $984-million in immediate relief for victims of natural disasters. House members then left town, finished with their legislative work until September.
That measure lacked $100-million for AmeriCorps, which supporters of the national service program said would force the agency to shed thousands of its volunteers in hundreds of community projects nationwide.
The House approved the $90-billion bill for veterans, environment, housing and science by a bipartisan 316-109 vote.
Among Florida Democrats, only Robert Wexler voted against the bill. Florida Republicans supported the bill with the exception of Michael Bilirakis, Ginny Brown-Waite, Tom Feeney and Jeff Miller. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen didn't vote.
Backed by veterans groups, a phalanx of lawmakers of both parties tried to derail the bill, which contains $25.7-billion in new spending for veterans' health care.
That was the same that President Bush had proposed and $1.3-billion over this year's total. But critics said it was $1.8-billion below what the GOP-led Congress had promised in its nonbinding budget in April, and would leave thousands of veterans waiting six months or longer for treatment and beds. Senior Republicans said veterans' funds may grow before the bill becomes law.
The Senate, which begins its break next Friday, is not expected to write its version of the bill until fall.
The legislation included modest increases for NASA, the National Science Foundation and housing, and a bit less than this year for the Environmental Protection Agency. Democrats were most unhappy over its funds for hazardous waste removal and clean water projects, and cuts in the demolition of decaying public housing.
During debate, the House approved amendments that would prevent the EPA from using industry research on pesticides that was conducted on humans, increase a $12-billion voucher program for low-income renters by $150-million and add enforcement officer slots that the bill would have eliminated.
The bill also had $480-million for the Corporation for National and Community Service, which runs AmeriCorps.
That was less than Bush sought but still enough to let the agency retain 55,000 volunteers for the government budget that starts on Oct. 1, 5,000 over this year.
But that wasn't satisfying AmeriCorps supporters, who said the agency will have to drop 20,000 of its 50,000 slots if an infusion of funds does not arrive before Congress' break.
The Senate's version of the natural disaster bill included an immediate $100-million for AmeriCorps, but the House's $984-million measure lacked those funds. It also lacked money Bush had requested for battling Western wildfires.
All Florida Democrats supported the House measure, as did Florida Republicans with the exception of Tom Feeney, Jeff Miller and Cliff Stearns. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen didn't vote.
Bush had requested $1.9-billion for this year for disasters, wildfires and NASA's costs for investigating the shuttle Columbia's disintegration. The House and Senate had been working on separate $2-billion versions of the legislation.
But pressured by record federal deficits and the costs of tax cuts and eager to leave town, the House GOP leadership produced a bill half that size and dropped controversial items - especially money for AmeriCorps, which supporters acknowledge has been badly run.
Before passage, the chamber voted 300-111 to reject a conservative effort led by Rep. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., to cut other federal programs to cover the bill's $984-million costs.
The House also . . .INTRODUCED NEW $120-BILLION TAX CUT FOR BUSINESSES: The chief Republican tax writer in the House introduced a big new tax cut for businesses on Friday, a proposal that would reduce the top rate to 32 percent from 35 percent for small companies, provide benefits to manufacturers and add about $120-billion to the deficit over 10 years.
The bill, offered by Rep. Bill Thomas of California, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, is meant to replace an existing tax break for businesses that export overseas. That subsidy has been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization, and the United States faces $4-billion in sanctions from Europe if it is not repealed.
Thomas' proposed new tax cut is more than three times as large as the one it would replace. He said the extra tax breaks were necessary to reform an antiquated business tax code and create jobs. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate on Friday by Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah.
ENDORSED STATE CONTROL OF HEAD START: The House early Friday morning narrowly approved a measure that would give some states control over the popular Head Start preschool program, despite the fervent objections of teachers and parents.
The measure, which passed 217-216 without the support of a single Democrat, is a scaled-back version of a proposal President Bush made in his State of the Union address. The president's plan would shift authority over Head Start from the federal government to the states. The House version would give no more than eight states the opportunity to administer Head Start centers for the next five years, receiving federal funds that currently go directly to local agencies.
The Senate has yet to craft its own bill on Head Start, which serves nearly 1-million children a year from low-income families.