WASHINGTON, April 19 (UPI) -- In a symbolic blow to the Bush administration, the U.S. Senate has signaled its disdain for funding Iraq military operations outside the annual budget cycle.
The Senate attached a non-binding resolution Monday evening to the $80.7 billion supplemental 2005 spending bill now being considered. The resolution said war funds should be allocated in annual budget requests from the White House.
Although other appropriations are included in the supplemental bill, including Indian Ocean tsunami relief funds and for ther U.S. military efforts, the main focus of the measure is to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and reflects the way the administration has funded those operations so far.
Receiving support from 21 Republicans, Senate Appropriations ranking member Robert Byrd's, D-W.Va., amendment reflects a growing bipartisan unease with the limited oversight being given to the funding during a period of immense budget deficits.
Nevertheless, the overall measure will be surely approved in the end, but then must be reconciled with a competing House version of the bill.
