Senators clashed with the Bush admin. over war funding on 4/16, after the WH "threatened to block a war-funding measure if it contains billions in domestic spending."
In a "contentious" Senate Approps Cmte hearing, Dems and GOPers "expressed frustration" with the admin.'s demand that Congress provide by Memorial Day $108B in an emergency-spending bill to cover operations in Iraq and Afghanistan -- without added domestic funds. WH OMB dir. Jim Nussle told the cmte he would recommend that Pres. Bush veto a bill that came in at more than $108B or included such domestic spending items. Nussle: "The president has made clear that he will veto any attempt to hijack this much-needed troop-funding bill."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said she would have a "very hard time" voting for the bill the admin. wants, "knowing that we need to do some things to protect our own people. I can't do it, it just isn't right and it's not why we came to this place."
Meanwhile, "the conflict is exacerbated by election-year politics and the U.S.'s worsening economic picture." Just before the hearing, several top Senate and House Dems held a presser where they highlighted the domestic items they could fund with the $434M/day they said is being spent in Iraq (Lueck, Wall Street Journal, 4/17).
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