A House of Representatives measure blending money for US President Barack Obama’s Afghanistan troop surge with last-ditch moves by governing Democrats to salvage their faltering jobs agenda faces an uphill climb in the Senate.
After long delays, House Democrats forced through the approximately US$80 billion measure on Thursday night as their final act before leaving for a weeklong Fourth of July break.
However, the Senate passed a significantly slimmer measure in May and it will take weeks to reconcile the two measures.
It’s just the latest disconnect between the battling House and Senate, which have also been unable to approve an extension of unemployment benefits and other economic stimulus steps.
FILIBUSTERS
Repeated Senate filibusters are chiefly to blame, but Democratic leaders in the House and Senate also disagree on strategy and tactics and long-simmering tensions have reached boiling point.
House leaders went ahead with the measure on Thursday despite knowing they have only limited leverage in forcing the Senate to accept more than US$20 billion in domestic spending add-ons, such as US$10 billion in grants to school districts to avoid teacher layoffs, US$5 billion for Pell Grants to low-income college students and US$700 million to improve security along the US-Mexico border.
The White House weighed in with a veto threat over US$800 million in cuts to education programs that would be used to help pay for the additional domestic spending under a “pay-as-you-go” culture that the administration itself advocates.
The measure is anchored by nearly US$60 billion passed by the Senate that blends US$30 billion for 30,000 extra troops in Afghanistan with money for disaster aid, foreign aid and disability benefits for Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange.
The House measure will receive little support from Senate Republicans, who have the votes to filibuster it, according to Senator Thad Cochran, a senior Republican whose support was central to Senate passage.
UNRELATED SPENDING
House Republicans supportive of the Afghanistan effort voted against the measure, angered that Democrats were using the must-pass legislation to try to advance unrelated spending.
“The Democrat majority is treating this troop funding bill like a cash cow for their election-year wish-list,” said Republican Representative Jerry Lewis.
Top Democrats such as Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey and Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted on adding the domestic funding items, viewing the war funding bill as their last, best shot at resuscitating the party’s faltering jobs agenda.
The money was critical to winning support from Democrats frustrated over deepening Senate gridlock that has killed, among other ideas, US$24 billion in aid to cash-starved states to help governors avoid tens of thousands of layoffs.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been agitating for the war money, requested in February, but the real deadline for Congress isn’t until recess next month.
The delays in approving the war funds will mean the Pentagon will have to employ burdensome book-keeping maneuvers to maintain the war effort.
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