War spending bill headed for veto

WASHINGTON — Democrats in Congress last week pressed ahead with a $124 billion war spending bill that requires troop withdrawals from Iraq to begin later this year, even as President Bush vowed to veto the legislation.

Both the House and Senate agreed on final passage of legislation that orders a troop pullout to begin by Oct. 1, with a goal to be completed six months later.

The House voted 218-208 for the final bill, a compromise between House and Senate versions of legislation adopted earlier this month. Only two Republicans supported it, and 13 Democrats voted against it.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., voted for the legislation. Reps. Jon Porter and Dean Heller, both R-Nev., voted against it.

The Senate vote was 51-46, with two Republicans joining all but one Democrat in support.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., voted for the bill. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., voted against it.

Bush administration officials called the legislation “dead before arrival.” They argue that withdrawal language supplants the president’s authority as commander-in-chief.

A Bush veto would be only the second of his presidency.

Democrats acknowledged they do not have the two-thirds majority necessary to override the likely veto.

Supporters of a withdrawal date said they were meeting the demands of a majority of Americans who want to bring U.S. involvement in Iraq to an end. Opponents said the legislation amounted to sending a “surrender date” to the enemy.

The bill requires troops to begin leaving Iraq by July 1 if the president cannot certify that Iraq is making political and military progress. Regardless of whether the benchmarks are being met, the start of a withdrawal would be mandatory by Oct. 1.

The legislation sets a goal of complete withdrawal by April 1, 2008, with the exception of troops conducting counterterrorism missions, protecting U.S. interests and training Iraqi security forces.

The spending bill includes $95.5 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus more than $21 billion added by Democrats and opposed by the Bush administration.

It includes $3.5 billion in disaster aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina, $1.85 billion in disaster aid for farmers and other amounts for homeland security, the Veterans Administration and child health care, among other programs.

Looking beyond the veto, congressional leaders said they could have a fallback war funding bill to the president by June 1. Republicans argue that the political wrangling will delay funding and cut off military operations. Democrats disagree.

HORSE SALES BLOCKED

The House voted to block the sale of wild horses rounded up on government land.

The bill, which passed 277-137, revokes the Bureau of Land Management’s authority to sell any of the 29,000 wild horses and burros under its protection. It would require the bureau to rely solely on adoptions to place horses.

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., the bill’s sponsor, said the legislation could prevent horses on public land from ending up in slaughterhouses.

In May 2005, 41 horses sold by the BLM were discovered to have been slaughtered for human consumption abroad.

“In effect, these animals were earmarked for death,” Rahall said.

Opponents argued the bill robs the BLM of a means of finding homes for the animals and controlling the size of wild herds in Western states.

They argued that no horses have been slaughtered for food since the BLM tightened its sales contracts.

The Bureau of Land Management was directed in December of 2004 to sell horses older than 10 years old who had been passed up for adoption three times.

Berkley, Heller and Porter voted for the bill.