Senate votes for Afghan, Iraq funding

WASHINGTON, May 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to provide $165 billion more for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The supplemental appropriation, enough to pay for the wars through the Bush administration and beyond, was paired with a domestic spending bill that includes a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits and an increase in education aid for veterans, The Washington Post reported. All language setting timetables for troop withdrawals or benchmarks for the Iraqi government was removed.

More than half the Republicans in the Senate joined Democrats to vote for the package.

"There's a long way to go in this process, and fortunately it takes two houses of Congress to send a bill to the president," Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "Our position hasn't changed: This is the wrong way to consider domestic spending, and Congress should not go down this path."

The package passed by a veto-proof majority of 75-22.