House passes $453.3 billion defense bill

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives passed a $453.3 billion defense spending bill on Thursday, which included $50 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and funding for other needs including rebuilding from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

The bill, which now goes to President George W. Bush for his signature, was approved by the Senate on Wednesday after Democrats forced the Republican majority to strip from it a measure opening an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling.

The $50 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is to carry the Pentagon until Congress acts on another emergency war supplemental next year, which lawmakers expect to be between $80 billion and $100 billion.
....
Rep. David Obey (news, bio, voting record) of Wisconsin, the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, attacked a provision that House and Senate Republican leaders inserted into the bill giving drug companies protection from lawsuits.

Obey, who said he would support narrow protections for manufacturers of avian flu vaccines, criticized the provision he said provides "all sorts of insulation for pharmaceutical companies, not just drugs to deal with the flu, but a far broader range of products."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051222/pl_nm/congress_defense_dc_3

[ananda]

1. Oh dear..

I thought the provision protecting big pharma had been stripped as well.

That's very bad that it wasn't.

Sue

[orwell]

2. Praise God...

...and pass the ammunition.

We wouldn't want to have to revert to bake sales. Laura's cookies suck.

[brentspeak]

3. We might as well mail our paychecks directly to Halliburton

x(

[Lasher]

4. We spend way too much on defense

Or, to put it more accurately, we spend way too much on war. Half the current amount would still be too much. Yet almost every politician is afraid to do anything with a defense appropriations bill except rubber stamp it.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Please tell me what is defensive about cruise missiles, white

phosphorous, cluster bombs, daisy cutters, tactical nukes, depleted uranium shells and anthrax??? Please tell me so I can understand what "defense" really means.

[ny_liberal]

6. 100 BILLION

unbelievable

[Bigmack]

7. The US has been spending gigabillions...

.. on "defense" for years. And yet....

A few guys with fucking BOX CUTTERS managed the only big strike inside this country.

Anybody see a fundamental disconnect there? Maybe it's because "defense" implies guarding the homeland, rather that building an overseas empire.

It's not a "Defense bill"... it's a Corporate Welfare bill.

[OneBlueSky]

8. and what goodies are hidden in it that we don't yet know about? . . . n/t

.

[FlyByNight]

9. I see the empire has truly become...

quite expensive to maintain. How many other nations do we outspend, combined? Fifteen? Twenty? More?

:puke:

[Lasher]

10. We outspend ALL other nations combined. (EOM)

[Toots]

11. Also federal money to go to religious schools for vouchers.

Now the federal givernment will pay for the indoctrination of kids into religion against the Constitution.....Also Churches using federal money may discriminate in their hiring practices also against the Constitution...But who cares right.......Bush* can do anything he wants because the cult believes in him.....What does giving money to churches for vouchers have to do with defense I ask..:shrug: