Defying a White House veto threat, the US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to seek conversion of part of a US$20.3 billion Iraqi reconstruction package into a loan, setting off a wild scramble among top Republicans to salvage the measure.
By a vote of 277 to 139, the House passed a non-binding resolution on Tuesday that calls on House conferees negotiating a final version of the bill with members of the Senate to turn a US$10 billion portion of the package into a loan, as it was done last week by the upper chamber.
Albeit largely symbolic, the measure marked a de facto political reversal by the Republican-controlled House, which last week complied with President George W. Bush's request to give Iraq a grant rather than a loan.
Significantly, the vote came just hours after White House budget director Joshua Bolten specifically warned lawmakers that Bush was likely to veto the whole US$85 billion war and reconstruction package for Iraq and Afghanistan if the loan provision remained in the bill.
In a letter sent to Capitol Hill, Bolten said the loan proposal "raises questions about our commitment to building a democratic and self-governing Iraq."
"If this provision is not removed, the president's senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill," the budget director said.
Tuesday's vote appears to reflect strong apprehension among rank-and-file Americans about allocating huge amounts of money for Iraq's reconstruction at a time when the US budget deficit is spinning out of control.
A CBS News poll conducted last month showed that 66 percent of respondents believed the US should not pay for Iraq's reconstruction at all.
But popular feelings notwithstanding, Republican House leaders were not amused late on Tuesday and rushed to whip dissenting members into line.
"I and a majority of the House conferees will vigorously oppose any attempt to provide the reconstruction funds as a loan," declared House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young.
"The House will hold firm in support of the president and in the end I expect the conference report will drop the loan provision," he added.
John Feehery, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, sought to downplay the importance of the vote, saying such motions were normally ignored not only by the White House "but by us, too."
House-Senate negotiators also found themselves under pressure from the Senate side, when a bipartisan group of senators wrote a letter asking them to keep the loan provision intact.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was