Seems Tom Delay has his election year Defense bill - $10 billion for continued development of a missile defense system, and $27 million for a new generation of nuclear weapons, including "bunker-buster" nuclear bombs that burrow deeply into the ground before detonating, with the sugar coating of a 3.5% pay raise for military personnel, a permanent increase in the rate of family separation allowances from $100 to $250 per month and a permanent increase in imminent danger pay from $150 to $225 per month - with increased benefits to National Guard and Reserve members - - how unlike last year when the GOP were cutting military benefits and Iraq combat pay!
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-defense21may21.storyHouse Backs Boost in War Funds(plus 39000 more troops)
The bill would authorize $25 billion more and add 39,000 troops to the Army and Marines. Lawmakers defy Bush on base closures.
By Richard Simon Times Staff Writer May 21, 2004
WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday voted to authorize an additional $25 billion to pay for the U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and an increase of 39,000 troops for the Army and the Marine Corps, but headed for a possible showdown with President Bush over another round of military base closures.
The bill, approved 391 to 34, would authorize $447 billion in Pentagon spending for fiscal year 2005, which begins Oct. 1, and would give Bush much of what he sought for the military operation in Iraq. But the GOP-controlled chamber defied a White House veto threat by failing to strip out a two-year delay in the Pentagon's next round of base closings.
The House bill must be reconciled with a Senate measure, which would allow the base closures to proceed as scheduled next year. The Senate is expected to approve its version of the bill within a few weeks.
The House version would increase the number of active-duty troops in the Army by 30,000 and the Marine Corps by 9,000 over the next three years. It also would provide money for developing new types of nuclear weapons, purchasing more body armor and fortified Humvees for the troops in Iraq and improving military pay and benefits. <snip>
Congress is not giving the Bush administration the flexibility it has sought to spend funds in response to changing circumstances without coming back to legislators for their approval. Lawmakers protective of their prerogative of the purse said they did not want to write the Pentagon a "blank check," and thus attached strict requirements for congressional oversight of the spending.<snip>
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