Spending Bill Deal Reached

House and Senate Republican leaders finalized agreement Thursday on a $94.5-billion bill to pay for the war in Iraq and to deliver much-needed relief to Louisiana and other hurricane-hit Gulf Coast states.

The bill is expected to clear Congress for President Bush’s desk next week. Official submission of the deal is expected to ease Pentagon worries of a money crunch caused by weeks of delays in creating a compromise bill.

GOP leaders overcame the last snag -- two Senate GOP moderates’ insistence that the bill include a promise to increase future spending on education and health programs -- by winning endorsement from Democratic Sens. Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana and Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii.

The bill includes $65.8 billion for military operations and maintenance in Afghanistan and Iraq; personnel and energy costs; new weapons and ammunition; and an initiative to locate and disarm roadside bombs.

The bill also contains $19.8 billion in new money for Gulf Coast hurricane relief.

The agreement caps weeks of mostly behind-the-scenes talks over how to balance lawmakers’ hopes for additional storm relief with Bush’s demand that the bill stick to his original $92.2-billion request for Iraq and Afghanistan and hurricanes, with an additional $2.3 billion to combat bird flu.

The Senate version of the bill exceeded Bush’s request by more than $14 billion, adding large sums for farm disasters, fisheries aid, veterans medical care and port security as well as to compensate Texas for taking on evacuees of Katrina.

Most of that extra money was dropped, as was $289 million to create a fund to compensate people if they were injured by a pandemic flu vaccine.

The last snag involved a demand by Senate leaders to use the must-pass war funding bill to get around a House-Senate impasse over the annual budget blueprint Congress is supposed to produce each year.

The measure endorses Bush’s $873-billion “cap” on the annual appropriations bills Congress passes each year. Under Congress’ arcane budget rules, setting a cap on appropriations bills makes them much easier to pass through the freewheeling Senate.

But GOP Sens. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Mike DeWine of Ohio sided with Democrats on a House-Senate negotiating committee to insist on $7 billion on top of Bush’s $873-billion cap for the upcoming annual spending bills. The pair refused to endorse the war spending bill without the additional promises for the future bills.

They wanted to dedicate the $7 billion to health and education programs; the White House and House GOP leaders were dead-set against the idea.

“These are things I care very much about, education and children’s health issues,” DeWine said.