On October 9, the House Appropriations Committee approved, 47-14, the FY2004 emergency supplemental spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan.
The measure would allocate an additional $86.9 billion in FY2004 for certain programs under the Department of Defense, Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund. The total is approximately $104 million less than the Senate Appropriations Committee approved on September 30 (see The Source, 10/3/03) and $139 million less than the President’s request.
Under the bill, $64.7 billion would be provided for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, $18.6 billion would be provided for relief and reconstruction in Iraq, and $1.2 billion would be provided for relief and reconstruction in Afghanistan.
Of the amount allocated for relief and reconstruction in Iraq, the measure would provide $793 million for health care programs, including $493 million to refurbish and modernize medical clinics, primary health care services, and hospitals and $300 million to repair and procure medical equipment for Iraq’s medical facilities. The bill does not include the President’s request of $150 million for a new children’s hospital in Basra.
In addition, of the amount allocated for relief and reconstruction in Afghanistan, the bill would provide $95 million for schools and education.
During consideration of the bill, the committee approved the following amendments by voice vote:
|
Ranking Member David Obey (D-WI) offered an amendment that would have decreased reconstruction spending in the bill by $14 billion. Of this amount, $4.6 billion would have been allocated to U.S. military accounts to increase the size of the Army by 20,000 personnel and to fund other military services, such as pre-deployment medical and dental checkups, family contact, support services, and equipment replacement. The amendment also would have converted $7 billion to World Bank loans, contingent on a match of 50 percent from allies. Finally, the amendment would have paid for the entire supplemental spending bill by scaling back the five percent tax cut for taxpayers with an annual income of more than $1 million as included in P.L. 108-27. The amendment was defeated, 25-36.
The House is expected to consider the supplemental spending bill on October 16.
