Military Bill Carries Extra Spending, From Oil Drilling To Baseball Stadium

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx?re=0D71DE03-A546-47B8-92CB-BF4F1225624A

Washington — As the Senate began to debate President Bush's request for more than $80 billion in supplemental military spending on Monday, senators seized a chance to pack pet projects into an unstoppable bill, adding provisions dealing with oil drilling, forest services, a new baseball stadium for Washington and economic assistance for Palestinians.

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the draft “a straightforward bill” that “meets the needs of our fighting forces overseas” and “addresses emergency requirements here at home.”

His own addition to the spending bill was a measure giving Mississippi control of the mineral rights and the ability to permit certain drilling below the Gulf Islands National Seashore in the Gulf of Mexico. Some environmental groups have opposed the measure.

Democrats charged Republicans with using emergency supplemental bills to circumvent the budget debate. “The White House has turned on its head the definition of an emergency supplemental appropriation,” Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., said. “This is not truth in budgeting. Tactics like this hide the real costs of the war.”

more