WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- House Democrats plan a procedural attack on a White House spending proposal Wednesday that they say offers too little money for national defense, homeland security and New York's recovery. They also plan to offer an amendment to deny funding for military tribunals for terrorism suspects.
Led by Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., and several New York representatives, the Democrats plan to mount an attack on an agreement between the White House, the Republican leadership and some New York Republicans to limit spending increases in the $317.5 billion defense spending bill.
"Last night, a bipartisan group of members asked the Rules Committee to allow the House to vote on three amendments: one to strengthen our homeland security, a second to improve national defenses, and a third one to make sure New York received the money it was promised to help it recover from the Sept. 11 terror attacks," Gephardt said Wednesday. "The Republican Majority turned us down on all counts So today, we will try to defeat the rule on the Defense Appropriations bill so we can have clear, fair votes on the timely measures important to our country."
Two Democratic amendments that will be allowed consideration should the GOP win the rule vote include a measure to bar funding for military tribunals of terrorism suspects and a proposal to strip $786 million from missile defense programs and reallocate $289 million to nuclear nonproliferation programs.
Should the leadership win the rule vote -- and a narrow victory seems plausible despite some New York Republican defections -- funds would be shifted from the Federal Emergency Management Agency budget and other grants to a community development block grant for New York. But Democrats argue this would still only give the city $11 billion out of the $20 billion promised for recovery.
But Republicans argue that the president's veto threat of any spending that exceeds the $40 billion supplemental makes it most prudent to wait for next year's appropriations process before fighting over the remaining money.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman C.W. Young, R-Fla., has said he supports more spending for New York, but Tuesday announced he would not support adding more at this time because of that veto threat.
