Congress Gives Pres. Obama $105.9 Billion For War Time Spending

Politico----

A $105.9 billion wartime spending bill cleared Congress Thursday even as House Democrats only narrowly beat back new Republican attempts to block President Barack Obama from closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo.

Obama’s authority to relocate Gitmo detainees is already severely limited under the war-funding measure now on its way to his desk. But House Republicans sought to push him a big step further Thursday by proposing a flat ban on the Justice Department using any of the funds in its 2010 budget to implement his January executive order.

The amendment failed by just one vote, 213-212, with 39 Democrats deserting the administration. Going into the new 2010 appropriations season now, it was a stark reminder of how hard Republicans are willing to push on terrorism and security-related issues. And at one level, the White House was only saved in the end by the Libertarian-minded Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who broke with his party on the issue.

After passing the House narrowly Tuesday, the separate war funding bill sailed through the Senate 91-5. But it also faced its own cliff-hanger vote first challenging the last-minute addition of a four-month $1 billion “cash-for-clunkers” initiative backed by the auto industry and hard-pressed dealers. The money was inserted in the final House-Senate negotiations last week without prior debate in either chamber,, and New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, had served notice that he would seek to strike the money as a violation of Senate rules barring such extraneous items.

“The hypocrisy of it is so extraordinary that it can’t even be described,” Gregg said, noting that Democrats added the new expenditure within hours of appearing at the White House to embrace “pay-as-you-go” deficit reduction legislation. Beyond the expense, environmentalists said the proposal sets too low a threshold in terms of fuel savings, since a consumer could qualify for a $3500 voucher simply by buying a car that saves 4 more miles-per-gallon of gasoline.

Many Democrats were themselves critical of the initiative on this point, and as the galleries watched, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid moved in-and-out of the cloakroom and on the Senate floor mustering the last votes. Prominent chairmen includes Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and John Kerry (D-Mass) withheld their votes until late and Washington state Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell was convinced to reverse her earlier “no” vote.

Still at 59, Reid turned to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has co-sponsored an alternative auto modernization plan with higher environmental standards. Reid has already pledged to push for this approach if Congress should extend the program past November, but Collins said she ultimately backed the Democratic leader because he was convinced that losing the provision could put the underlying measure in jeopardy by forcing yet another close vote in the House.

Sources: Politico, Wikipedia