Washington – The House passed a $463.5 billion spending bill Wednesday that covers about one-sixth of the federal budget as Democrats cleared away the financial mess they inherited from Republicans.
Before the 286-140 vote, Republicans made modest objections to Democrats’ spending decisions but protested greatly over how the new majority muscled the measure through the House.
Democrats said the legislation would increase spending on education, veterans, health research and grants to state and local law enforcement agencies. Among the trade-offs were cuts to President Bush’s requests for NASA, foreign aid and aid for communities affected by the latest round of military-base closings.
The measure heads to the Senate, which is expected to pass it before a Feb. 15 deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.
Bush has signaled he will sign the budget bill.
Despite GOP complaints about how the bill came together, it generally is a Republican- leaning measure that keeps to the same overall cap that Bush and congressional Republicans insisted on last year. Spending levels for most agencies and programs are the same as last year.
But the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., and his Senate counterpart, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., used a series of maneuvers to find enough money to avoid furloughs and hiring freezes. Obey put the total at $16 billion.
The veterans lobby won a $3.6 billion increase from the House for medical care, while low-income college students would receive a $260 boost, to $4,310, in the maximum Pell Grant.
The bill added $300 million for renewable-energy and energy- efficiency research in the Department of Energy’s budget. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden can lobby for some of that money, said Rep. Ed Perl mutter, D-Colo.
An increase in transportation funds will mean $42 million for Colorado, said Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo.
Denver Post staff writer Anne Mulkern contributed to this report.
