Senate passes $636-billion defense bill

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Saturday passed a $636-billion defense appropriations bill that includes money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a 3.4 percent pay increase for the military and a two-month extension of unemployment benefits.

The bill was approved 88-10 after Democrats blocked
an attempt by Republicans to delay passage of the measure as part of an
effort to slow debate on health care legislation.

The defense bill provides $508 billion for regular Defense Department operations and $128.3 billion for the wars.

The war funding does not include money for President Obama’s plan to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. The White House has not yet submitted a funding request to finance the troop build-up.

As the last major spending bill of the year, the legislation also carried about $13.3 billion in non-defense spending, most of it for temporary extensions of several domestic programs Congress didn’t have time to consider separately.

Lawmakers extended through February a package of
emergency unemployment and health care benefits that had been part of
this year’s economic stimulus package. Those benefits include health
insurance subsidies for laid-off workers under a federal program
commonly called COBRA. The benefit had been slated to expire at the end
of this month.

Lawmakers also temporarily re-authorized portions of the anti-terror USA Patriot Act and provided funding for Medicare
to forestall for two months a scheduled 21 percent cut in payments to
doctors who treat patients in the government health program for the
elderly.

Senators arrived at a vote on the bill after defeating a Republican effort to filibuster the legislation on Friday.

Most of the defense spending had broad support, but Republicans sought the delay to express their displeasure with Congress’ inability to consider non-defense items separately and to slow progress on the health care legislation.

Some Republicans also blasted what they perceived as unnecessary pork barrel spending in the bill.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, complained that the bill was laden with earmarks.

Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois
said that several of the non-defense items in the bill, such as the
unemployment benefits extension, were sorely needed in the face of a
lagging economy.

Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.