On May 10, the Senate approved, 100-0, the conference report for the FY2005 emergency supplemental spending bill (H.R. 1268). The House approved the conference report on May 5 (see The Source, 5/7/05). It will now go to the White House for President Bush’s signature.
As requested by the administration, H.R. 1268 allocates an additional $82 billion for programs administered by the Department of Defense, the State Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) said that the conference report “includes much needed funding for humanitarian assistance in areas of the world devastated by famine, disaster and war,” adding, “I am especially pleased that we have provided $90 million for international disaster and famine assistance for Darfur, Sudan and other African countries including Ethiopia, Liberia, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The situation in Sudan remains dire and there are several other countries in the region that will also greatly benefit from these funds. The conference report also includes necessary peacekeeping dollars that will address the security needs of millions of oppressed people…It provides $50 million in funding for the African Union mission in Darfur. It is the experience of many on the ground in Darfur that atrocities do not occur when AU troops are present, and this funding should facilitate an expansion of their mission.”
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) expressed her concern that many of the earmarks in the bill are not “genuine emergencies,” stating, “Having this supplemental, unfortunately, with the big title ‘emergency’ over it appears to be an effort to rush things through to avoid congressional oversight and scrutiny. Obviously, a bill that is going to provide funding for the young men and women wearing the uniform of our country, in harm’s way every single hour of every day, is going to command broad bipartisan and public support, as it should. But that doesn’t, in my opinion, in any way mitigate against what should be the necessity of an orderly process, an appropriations process subject to the give and take of opinion and fact, and argument and reason and evidence, and then the presentation of a budget that includes the expenses that are necessary for our military.”
