Budget Alert: March 23, 2007

House Narrowly Passes Supplemental Funding Bill, Iraq Deadline

By a vote of 218-212 the House of Representatives today narrowly passed HR 1591, the FY 07 Supplemental Appropriations Bill including: $103.7 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan war costs and other costs related to the Global War on Terror; $6.3 billion for Hurricane Katrina and Gulf Coast relief; $3.5 billion for military and veterans health care; $3.1 billion for Base Realignment and Closure; $2.5 billion for Homeland Security; $3.7 billion for agriculture disaster (drought) relief; $500 million for wildfire suppression; $400 million for Low Income Home Energy Assistance; $1 billion for Pandemic (avian) flu vaccines; and $750 million in emergency SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program) funds. Also rolled into the bill is minimum wage and small business tax relief legislation.

The bill includes language setting an August 2008 deadline for ending U.S. troop presence in Iraq-- earlier if progress towards, and achievement of, political and military benchmarks are not met by July 1, 2007 and October 1, 2007.

The Senate will act on its version of the Supplemental Bill next week.

The President has promised to veto any bill including an Iraq deadline.

New CRS Report on Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan

House Appropriations Summary of Supplemental Bill