Amid Acrimony, War Spending Plan Is Set

Congressional negotiators neared agreement Friday night on a nearly $80-billion war-spending measure that would give President Bush the authority to give the military, rather than civilians, a lead role in the rebuilding of Iraq.

As negotiators worked to strike a deal, the Senate, in a little-used procedure, declared that when it receives the legislation, it would be passed. Senators then left town for their two-week spring recess. The measure is expected to be approved by the House and sent to President Bush as early as today.

Bush sought $74.7 billion to pay for the war and its aftermath, additional aid to allies and anti-terrorism initiatives at home and abroad. He is expected to sign the measure, even though it includes more than $3 billion in aid to the airline industry and laid-off airline workers, a sum the White House called excessive.

The emergency spending measure provides about $62.5 billion to fund the war through Sept. 30, including everything from fuel for tanks to more missiles. It also includes about $4 billion for homeland defense, including $700 million for high-risk urban areas -- a chunk of which is likely to go to Los Angeles.

“This is only the first installment,” Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) said.

House-Senate negotiators agreed to give Bush the authority to let the Pentagon oversee much of the spending of $2.5 billion for postwar reconstruction. Lawmakers earlier had argued that the effort is a civilian job and should be run by the State Department. But administration officials said that because the military is providing security, it should manage the aid.

Negotiators asked the White House to report to Congress within 45 days on its strategy for providing security, humanitarian aid, setting up an Iraqi civilian government and an estimate of reconstruction costs.

Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) said that Congress has given the president “an extraordinary amount of flexibility.”

A GOP aide said the bill allows foreign assistance funds to flow to the Defense Department for the first time. Congress retains its authority for an accounting of spending, “but the president has the

In addition to the estimated $3 billion in assistance to the airline industry and its laid-off workers, the measure extends war-risk insurance for airplanes, bringing the value of the package to the airline industry to more than $3.5 billion. Some of the money will reimburse airlines for government-mandated security measures.

The aid comes on top of a $15-billion airline industry rescue package approved in 2001, shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The new measure would cap the salaries of airline executives at 2002 fiscal year levels if their airlines accept aid.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers from states hard hit by layoffs teamed up to approve -- over White House objections -- a 26-week extension of unemployment benefits to workers laid off by airlines, airports and airplane manufacturers.

Although there was never a disagreement over whether Congress would provide all of the money sought for the troops, a rancorous dispute broke out among House and Senate Republicans over whether the emergency spending package should include funds for home-state projects unrelated to the war effort.

Negotiators were working into the night to settle those disputes.

After speeding through the $62.5-billion Pentagon budget, lawmakers spent an extended time debating whether to provide $3 million to repair a Vermont dam.

“This is a defense supplemental,” Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) said, emphasizing the word “defense.”

House members objected to items added by the Senate, including $50 million for the shipbuilding industry, $10 million for a South Pole research center and $98 million for an animal research facility in Iowa.

Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said he could not support the additional items after he turned down requests by his House colleagues to include their projects. Relations between the chambers became so tense that Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, remarked earlier this week: “I’m just sorry we repealed the law on dueling.”

Stevens said the House did the same thing as the Senate, putting funds in the spending plan for projects unrelated to the war but calling them “technical corrections.”

The spending measure includes $1 billion in aid to Turkey, a provision that many lawmakers opposed because of that country’s refusal to let U.S. troops launch a northern front from its territory. The administration urged Congress to provide the money, saying Turkey remains an important U.S. ally.

A House-approved measure that sought to bar companies from France, Germany, Russia and Syria from receiving U.S.-funded postwar reconstruction projects because of their opposition to the war was dropped.