WASHINGTON, May 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have reached a compromise agreement on war funding.
House and Senate negotiators have agreed to hold the fiscal 2006 emergency war and hurricane relief package to no more than $94.5 billion, avoiding a veto fight with the White House, CongressDaily reported Friday.
The package will adhere to President George W. Bush's initial $92.2 billion limit, and might increase by $2.3 billion if avian flu preparedness initiatives favored by the administration are added. But those funds and Bush's new border security plan face pushback from the Appropriations committees, the report said.
White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten went to Capitol Hill Thursday, in part to soothe nerves frayed by the introduction earlier in the day of the $1.9 billion border control package.
The border plan adds another wrinkle to negotiations that the White House wants to wrap up by the end of next week. The funds must be offset to stay within the overall $94.5 billion limit, which the White House assumes will include the avian flu money, CongressDaily said.
Some of that money might be deferred to the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, while the border security plan, including $756 million to deploy 6,000 National Guard members, faces scrutiny. "Until this week, the president fought against almost every single congressional effort to strengthen our border security," said Senate Appropriations ranking member Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.
Bush's proposed offsets for the border package are also in question. The money will come largely from Pentagon procurement accounts, including money to buy armored vehicles, heavy trucks, radios, generators, replacements for downed helicopters and armor kits for soldiers, the report said.
