The US Congress by an overwhelming margin on Thursday approved nearly US$80 billion to finance the war in Iraq, reward key allies, bolster anti-terrorism efforts and help struggling airlines.
The Republican-led House of Representatives and Senate passed similar versions of the emergency spending package that gives the Pentagon some US$60 billion to fight the war, after Republicans deflected most efforts by Democrats to add billions more to tighten domestic protections against terrorism.
The Senate vote was unanimous, while the House vote was 414 to 12.
In key amendments, the House backed US President George W. Bush by supporting US$1 billion for aid to Turkey which Washington is trying to coax to be a more cooperative ally in the war with Iraq.
On another vote, it passed a measure the White House lobbied against to bar money in the bill from going to companies in France, Germany, Russia or Syria to help rebuild Iraq as lawmakers said they should not get business from a war they resisted. The Senate bill did not have that measure.
Lawmakers intend to work out differences between the House and Senate measures, and send Bush a final bill by April 11.
The House voted 315 to 110 to reject a bid to strip the aid by conservatives who argued that Ankara should be punished for refusing to let the US invade Iraq from Turkish soil, denying it a northern front in the war.
Trying to avoid a threat to US-Turkish relations, White House National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice appealed to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, a Republican, to fight to preserve the aid in the bill he was shepherding through the House.
"Despite the recent difficulties, the president is devoted to maintaining the strategic partnership," Rice said in a letter to Young.
By a voice vote, the House agreed to bar money in the bill from going to companies from France, Germany, Russia or Syria, despite State Department lobbying against the measure.
Representative George Nethercutt, a Republican, called those countries the "coalition of the unwilling," while Representative Mark Souder, a Republican, said they "gave aid and comfort to Saddam Hussein."
But Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert said the measure would force the US to bear "a disproportionate share of costs" for Iraqi relief and rebuilding and would undermine efforts to liberalize trade.
RSS