US Senate set to pass spending bill
Source: Agencies |
December 14, 2009, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SENATE Democrats in the United States have cleared the way for a vote on a huge end-of-year US$1.1 trillion spending bill that includes money to run much of the government and pay for health care benefits for the poor.
The spending measure gives the Education Department, the State Department, the Department of Health and Human Services and others generous budget increases far exceeding inflation.
On Saturday, the Democratic-controlled Senate voted 60-34 to end the Republican attempt to use a legislative maneuver known as a filibuster to hold up the legislation. A final vote was set for late yesterday to send the measure to President Barack Obama for his signature.
The 1,000-plus-page bill brings together six of the 12 annual spending bills that Congress had been unable to pass separately even though the new fiscal year began on October 1 because of partisan roadblocks.
It includes US$447 billion in operating budgets with about US$650 billion in mandatory payments for federal benefit programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, which provide health care benefits to the elderly, disabled and poor, as well as an estimated US$3.9 billion for more than 5,000 home-state projects sought by individual lawmakers in both parties.
The bill increases spending by an average of about 10 percent to programs under immediate control of Congress, blending increases for veterans' programs, the NASA space agency and the FBI with a pay raise for federal workers.
Republicans said it provides too much money at a time when the government is running big deficits.
The spending measure gives the Education Department, the State Department, the Department of Health and Human Services and others generous budget increases far exceeding inflation.
On Saturday, the Democratic-controlled Senate voted 60-34 to end the Republican attempt to use a legislative maneuver known as a filibuster to hold up the legislation. A final vote was set for late yesterday to send the measure to President Barack Obama for his signature.
The 1,000-plus-page bill brings together six of the 12 annual spending bills that Congress had been unable to pass separately even though the new fiscal year began on October 1 because of partisan roadblocks.
It includes US$447 billion in operating budgets with about US$650 billion in mandatory payments for federal benefit programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, which provide health care benefits to the elderly, disabled and poor, as well as an estimated US$3.9 billion for more than 5,000 home-state projects sought by individual lawmakers in both parties.
The bill increases spending by an average of about 10 percent to programs under immediate control of Congress, blending increases for veterans' programs, the NASA space agency and the FBI with a pay raise for federal workers.
Republicans said it provides too much money at a time when the government is running big deficits.
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