23 June 2008
The House finally got it’s act together and formed a bipartisan deal on a major spending bill that would fund the war until the end of Bush’s term in office, but also provide new education benefits for veterans and give in to Democratic demands of extended unemployment benefits. The bill which will be voted on this week will end a 2 year battle between Bush and the Democrats on a $163 billion war funding bill but without imposing conditions which had included a withdrawal deadline. Both sides gave a little and maybe something will be done this time. It seems like the president is willing to sign the coming legislation.
Under the new measure, veterans who enlisted after the attacks on Sept. 11th and served three years would get four years of college at a state university. In order to get the veterans their education with Republican support, House leaders dropped their plan to pay the $50 billion cost of the program from taxes on affluent Americans. Also included in the bill was a restriction for the U.S. to build permanent bases in Iraq and to require the Iraqi government to share equally in the cost of rebuilding the country. We’ll have to see if the Senate will go along with the House bill.
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