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Politics

House easily passes huge spending bill

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published February 1, 2007

WASHINGTON - A must-pass bill covering about one-sixth of the federal budget swept through the House on Wednesday. A sizable chunk of Republicans joined virtually all Democrats in approving spending increases for education, veterans and the AIDS battle in Africa.

The 286-140 vote - with 57 Republicans voting in favor - was a surprise for Democrats, who expected far less GOP support. The bill had much to please the rank and file, including Republican moderates, even though it contained no pet projects for their districts.

"The content is a heck of a lot better than most expected we'd come up with," said the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. David Obey, D-Wis. He worked with his Senate counterpart, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., to add money for initiatives popular with both parties.

The overall total would have been even higher had there not been such hurt feelings over how Democrats powered the bill through the House: just an hour of debate time, no amendments allowed.

Republicans also said the measure was not free of parochial "earmarks," saying powerful senators such as Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., received special treatment.

The White House has signaled that President Bush would sign the bill despite cuts to his requests for NASA, foreign aid and communities affected by the latest round of military base closings.

But numerous agencies are feeling the crunch from operating for four months at or below last year's levels, so the administration was eager for relief.

Democrats were especially pleased with a $260 boost, to $4,310, in the maximum Pell Grant for low-income college students, and with a 40 percent increase, to $4.5-billion, for fighting AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis overseas.

[Last modified February 1, 2007, 01:45:34]