Asia-Pacific
US Senate set to advance $1.1T spending bill
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-12 19:08
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 US President Barack Obama (L) meets with bipartisan members of Congress in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, December 9, 2009. [Agencies] |
WASHINGTON: The Senate is poised to clear away Republicans' attempt to block of a huge end-of-year spending bill rewarding most federal agencies with generous budget boosts.
The $1.1 trillion measure combines much of the year's unfinished budget work -- only a $626 billion Pentagon spending measure would remain -- into a 1,000-page plus catchall spending bill that would give Cabinet departments such as Education, Health and Human Services and State increases far exceeding inflation.
The bill also caps a heated debate over Obama's order to close the military-run prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It would permit detainees held there to be transferred to the United States to stand trial but not to be released.
After a 60-36 test vote on Friday in which Democrats and a handful of Republicans helped the measure clear another Republican obstacle, the bill was expected to win the 60 Senate votes Saturday necessary to guarantee passage. A final vote is expected Sunday.
It bundles six of the 12 annual spending bills, capping a dysfunctional appropriations process in which House of Representatives leaders blocked Republicans from debating key issues while Senate Republicans dragged out debates.
Just the $626 billion defense bill would remain. That's being held back to serve as a vehicle to advance must-pass legislation such as the debt increase.
Saturday's bill would offer an improved binding arbitration process to challenge GM and Chrysler's decisions to close more than 2,000 dealerships, which often serve as the anchor of fading small town business districts. It also renewed for two more years a federal loan guarantee program for steel companies.
The bill would also void a long-standing ban on the funding of abortion by the local Washington city government and overturns a ban on federal money for needle exchange programs in the city. It also phases out a Washington city school voucher program favored by Republicans and opens the door for the city to permit medical marijuana.
It would also lift a nationwide ban on the use of federal funds for needle-exchange programs.
Federal workers would receive pay increases averaging 2 percent, with people in areas with higher living costs receiving slightly higher increases.
Once the bill clears the Senate, it would advance to President Barack Obama's desk.
