Senate panel OKs wartime spending package

WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved a sweeping emergency wartime funding package.

A Senate floor fight is expected, however, since the measures would curtail U.S. President George Bush's Iraq policy and provide billions of dollars for new domestic programs.

The package, approved on a voice vote, includes $169 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through part of next year and more than $25 billion in new domestic spending, The Hill, a Washington publication, reported. It also sets a goal for troops to be moved out of a military role in Iraq by June 2009.

The Senate is expected to ultimately reject the war policy amendment, which also calls for a ban on permanent military bases in Iraq and language giving troops longer lag time in between deployments. Approval is expected on the troop-funding provision but the prospects for more domestic spending are uncertain.

The vote sets up a probable floor fight next week over domestic priorities and the Iraq war on the eve of Congress' weeklong Memorial Day recess.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, meanwhile, Republicans blocked passage of a bill to fund military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The sticking point dealt with measures setting policy limits on the Bush administration and to pay for expanded veterans' benefits and unrelated spending.