Senate Funding Bill Passes - $200m for AIDS, $205m for Amtrack

House Clears Emergency Terror Funding
By REUTERS

Filed at 9:14 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives voted 397-32 on Tuesday to clear $28.9 billion in emergency funding for the Pentagon, U.S. homeland security efforts and New York's recovery after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Senate is expected to follow suit on Wednesday and send the package to President Bush -- who first requested it over four months ago -- to be signed into law. Lawmakers last week cut billions in spending from the bill in response to White House complaints it had grown too large.

``I hope we can get it to the president's desk as soon as possible so that our soldiers, our diplomats, our law enforcement and intelligence officers have the resources they need to protect our country,'' said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, a Florida Republican.

The core elements of the 2002 supplemental spending bill enjoy wide support. But it was slowed by bitter clashes between the White House -- which wanted to limit the cost in the face of mounting U.S. budget woes -- and lawmakers determined to fund their own priorities ahead of November elections.

That led the Pentagon to warn it would run out of money for vital operations if the measure was not approved by the end of the month. The Transportation Department also warned that efforts to overhaul passenger and baggage screening at airports could be derailed if the deadlock continued.

``It is a reasonable package and I think the most important thing we can say about it is we simply need to get on with it,'' said Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin, the top Democrat on the appropriations committee, which controls federal spending.

The final bill would provide $14.5 billion for continuing U.S. operations in Afghanistan and other military needs, as well as $6.7 billion for efforts to bolster U.S. domestic defenses after Sept. 11.

A further $5.5 billion would go to help New York recover from the destruction of the World Trade Center. With an eye on the upcoming elections, lawmakers also included a grab bag of items unrelated to U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

The bill provides $1 billion to make up a shortfall in the popular Pell Grant program for college students, $400 million for improving U.S. voting systems and $200 million to fight HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases around the world.

It also includes $205 million in assistance to the struggling Amtrak passenger rail service, $31 million to boost enforcement activities at the Securities and Exchange Commission amid a wave of corporate scandals and a $250 million package of humanitarian aid to Israel and the Palestinians.