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Politics

Senate approves omnibus spending bill

WASHINGTON - The Senate on Tuesday night passed a $555-billion spending bill combining funding for 14 Cabinet departments with $70-billion for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. By a bipartisan 76-17 vote, senators approved the spending bill, which bundles 11 annual appropriations bills funding domestic agencies and the foreign aid budget for the budget year that began Oct. 1. Earlier in the evening, the Senate approved 70-25 the war funding without restrictions that Democrats had insisted on. Bush is ready to sign the bill, assuming the war funding clears the House today.

Highlights of the spending bill include:

$3.7-billion above President Bush's request for veterans programs.

$6.2-billion shifted to domestic programs from defense, military base construction and State Department and foreign aid accounts.

$395-million in cuts to clean water and wastewater projects.

$2-billion above 2007 for the Education Department.

Just a 1 percent increase, to $29.2-billion, for research underwritten by the National Institutes of Health.

$5-billion to combat AIDS around the world, $544-million more than Bush sought.

$1-billion to address aging bridges, with an additional $195-million to replace the Interstate 35 span in Minnesota.

$1.3-billion in subsidies for Amtrak.

Policy changes in the spending bill include:

A 3.5 percent pay increase for federal civilian workers, matching raises recently passed for Pentagon employees.

Language by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., allowing states to adopt tougher security rules for chemical plants than federal standards.

Preventing the Transportation Department from proceeding with a pilot program giving up to 100 Mexican trucking companies greater access to U.S. highways.

Delaying a new security rule requiring passports at all U.S. border crossings until no earlier than June 1, 2009.

Policy changes dropped from the spending bill:

Language passed by the Senate to bar the government from taking legal action against organizations with English-only work rules.

A Senate provision to overturn longtime rules prohibiting U.S. assistance to organizations overseas that perform or promote abortion.

Language to block enforcement of a Treasury Department rule requiring Cuba to pay for U.S. agricultural goods before a ship leaves port for Cuba. The rule has limited efforts to boost such trade.

Other developments in Washington on Tuesday

Put in action

Nuclear weapons: President Bush has approved "a significant reduction" in the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, cutting it to less than one-quarter its size at the end of the Cold War, the White House said Tuesday. The government will not provide any numbers on the overall size of the nuclear stockpile, but there are believed to be nearly 6,000 warheads that either are deployed or in reserve.

Sent to the president

Freedom of Information Act: The White House has not said if Bush will sign legislation that would toughen the Freedom of Information Act. It restores a presumption of disclosure standard committing government agencies to releasing requested information unless there is a finding that such disclosure could do harm. Agencies would be required to meet a 20-day deadline for responding to FOIA requests. If they fail to meet the 20-day deadline, agencies would have to refund search and duplication fees for noncommercial requesters. They also would have to explain any redaction by citing the specific exemption under which the blacked-out information qualifies. Nonproprietary information held by government contractors also would be subject to the law. The legislation also creates a system for the media and public to track the status of their FOIA requests. It would be the first makeover of the FOIA in a decade.

Mortgage tax: Bush is expected to sign a bill giving a tax break to homeowners fighting foreclosure. The bill would keep the IRS from taxing mortgage forgiveness. That's when a lender allows a homeowner not to pay a portion of the mortgage, which usually only happens as foreclosure nears. Under current law, the IRS taxes any loan forgiveness as income. The bill covers restructured mortgage agreements entered into after Jan. 1, 2007, and before Dec. 31, 2009. The tax forgiveness is available on mortgage indebtedness of up to $1-million. The bill also extends the mortgage tax insurance deduction for three years.

Darfur: Bush is expected to sign a bill promoting divestment in Sudan. Lawmakers have declared the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region to be a genocide, with an estimated 2-million people displaced and an estimated 450,000 killed. The bill would authorize states, local governments and certain other investors to divest Sudan-related assets from their portfolios. It also bans companies with U.S. government contracts from working in the Sudan in mining and oil or in power and military equipment production.

Terrorism insurance: Bush is expected to sign a seven-year extension of the government's terrorism insurance plan. The House approved the Senate's version of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act after the White House and Senate Republicans balked at extending the program for 15 years and reducing the trigger for assistance to $50-million from the current $100-million. Federal backstops for terrorism insurance were enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Reinsurers said then they would no longer cover the costs of major losses. The federal program was extended once in 2005 and would have expired at the end of this month.

Pool safety: A measure that would strengthen pool safety is part of an energy bill that Bush is expected to sign. The legislation would ban the manufacture, sale or distribution of drain covers that don't meet anti-entrapment safety standards. The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act is named for the 7-year-old granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker, who drowned at a graduation party in 2002 when the suction from a drain pinned her. Amendments were added making the bill's restrictions apply to existing public pools, not just new pools, and that requires public pools to include technology to shut off suction when a drain is blocked.

In the Senate

Alternative minimum tax: The Senate again rejected raising taxes mainly on users of offshore tax havens to cover the $50-billion cost of saving millions of taxpayers from having to pay a higher alternative minimum tax on their income this year. The House is expected to vote today on the tax fix, without imposing higher taxes elsewhere to make up for the lost revenues. The fix will save some 21-million taxpayers an average $2,000 each in higher taxes. The battle had pitted House Democrats who had insisted on raising the revenue elsewhere against President Bush, who said he would veto any tax increase.

Medicare: The Senate passed a six-month reprieve for physicians facing a 10 percent rate cut when treating Medicare patients. The pay cut for doctors is planned for Jan. 1. The legislation would give doctors a 0.5 percent raise when they treat the elderly and disabled. That raise will expire June 30. The bill also extends funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, a popular children's health insurance program through March 2009 after Bush twice vetoed a big expansion of it. The legislation now goes to the House, which hopes to wrap up work this week.

In the House

Military taxes: The House voted to give the nation's military and public servants such as volunteer firefighters more tax benefits in response to their service. The legislation makes permanent current law to include combat pay as earned income for purposes of the earned income tax credit, which refunds income, Social Security and Medicare taxes to low-income people. It also makes permanent Internal Revenue Service provisions to permit active-duty reservists to make penalty-free withdrawals from retirement plans. The bill now goes to the Senate.

[Last modified December 19, 2007, 01:40:06]