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| Home Front: Politix |
| Congress approves military and defense spending |
| 2004-10-10 |
| Lawmakers Saturday approved a $447 billion 2005 defense spending bill as Congress pushed forward with final actions before adjourning for the elections. Attempting to complete work so members can return to their states and districts to campaign, the House and Senate approved a 3.5 percent pay raise for military personnel and expanded health care for reservists. Also included is $25 billion for operational costs in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, the measure kills a $23 billion leasing contract between Boeing Co. and the Air Force for refueling tankers. However, the Air Force can still buy 100 of Boeing's 767 aircraft for such purposes after the completion of studies. In separate action, the House approved without dissent a $32 billion homeland security funding bill after days of political breakdown concerning a controversial extension of federal milk subsidies that Northeastern senators wanted included in the final bill. The proposed 2-year, $2.4 billion extension of the subsidy benefiting small dairy farmers was opposed by Western lawmakers whose dairy constituents tend to be larger farmers and left out of the final bill by GOP leaders. The Senate is expected to approve the bill sometime in the next few days. |
| Posted by:Steve White |