WASHINGTON, 2 April 2003 — The US Congress plunged into work yesterday to send President George W. Bush money to finance the war in Iraq, as committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate considered a $75 billion emergency spending bill for the military and to reward allies.
The House Appropriations Committee was to take up a bill that largely tracks Bush’s request, but with curbs on the sweeping discretion he sought over use of the huge spending package, according to committee documents.
The Senate was to take up the bill later in the day, rushing to act on it before Congress’ Easter recess.
Democrats, who are minorities in both the House and the Senate, are expected to push to add billions more to the bill to tighten protections against terrorism in the United States.
Republicans were expected to move to attach a proposal worth about $3 billion in relief to the airlines that have seen business suffer as a result of the war.
The House committee’s bill would provide $62.5 billion to finance the war, but breaks the money into categories instead of offering the huge contingency fund the Pentagon sought. It includes $25 billion to meet unforeseen war costs, with the Pentagon to give Congress a week’s notice when money from the fund was to be spent.
Both Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees had complained that Bush was seeking a “blank check” that overrode Congress’ oversight of federal spending called for in the Constitution.
The House committee bill provides $4.2 billion for programs to tighten safeguards against terrorism in the United States, but again breaks the spending into categories such as customs and border protection, emergency preparedness and first responders.
The bill would provide $4.9 billion in foreign aid to reward key allies in the Iraq war and in the global war on terrorism, slightly less than the $5.1 billion Bush sought.
In one of the bill’s more contentious provisions, the House committee’s plan would provide the $1 billion in direct aid for Turkey that Bush wanted, but only after the administration submits a report that Ankara is cooperating in the war in Iraq. It suggests the president should suspend the assistance if he later determines Turkey is not cooperating.
In an effort to shore up shaky relations with Ankara and to keep Turkey from sending troops into Northern Iraq, Bush sought the $1 billion in direct aid that Turkey could use to leverage up to $8.5 billion in loans and loan guarantees to help its faltering economy.
Bush had offered Ankara a $6 billion direct aid package that could be used to secure up to $24 billion in loans, but withdrew that offer after the Turkish parliament refused on March 1 to open its bases to US troops to deploy to the war in neighboring Iraq.
Because of its balking at the troop deployment, a number of lawmakers insisted on conditions for the aid to Ankara.
The House panel’s bill provides $700 million in aid for Jordan, $300 million for Egypt and $127 million for Afghanistan, as Bush requested. Jordan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Israel and Pakistan also would share some $2 billion in assistance to their militaries.
It cuts by half the White House request for $200 million for outreach programs to the Middle East, saying the administration was trying to expand the programs too rapidly.
The House panel’s bill also would provide $2.5 billion toward reconstruction and relief for Iraq, up $40 million from the White House request.
