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Senate panel adds $10-billion-plus to Iraq funding bill

WASHINGTON - A bill to fund the war in Iraq ballooned by more than $10-billion Tuesday after a Senate panel added funding for everything from fighting bird flu to repairing oyster beds.

The temptation for using the must-pass bill containing $67.8-billion for the Pentagon's mission in Iraq - and some $27-billion in additional hurricane relief along the Gulf Coast - as a locomotive to drive even more spending proved too difficult for senators to pass up.

Overall, the bill would cost about $107-billion.

That's still not enough for Gulf Coast senators like Mary Landrieu, D-La., who called for another $5-billion-plus to reflect new Army Corps of Engineers estimates of what will be needed for Louisiana levees.

Senators put the extra money into the bill on a series of voice votes - at a pace of almost $100-million per minute of debate.

The additional funding includes:

--$4-billion for farmers hit by drought, floods and high energy costs.

--$2.3-billion to combat the avian flu.

--$1.1-billion for various projects to bring back Gulf Coast fisheries.

--$648-million for port security.

--$594-million to repair highways damaged by earlier disasters but put off after aid was focused on the Gulf Coast.

Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., cast the only "nay" vote, in absentia.

The White House supports the overall bill, but Budget Office spokesman Scott Milburn said, "The Senate committee's funding level is significantly higher than the president's request, and that's a cause for serious concern."

The driving force behind the measure is to provide funding for U.S. missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that makes it a tempting target for senators' pet projects.

[Last modified April 5, 2006, 00:38:13]