AP News, July 17th, 2007
The House voted Tuesday to award increases to programs aimed at making cars and buildings more energy efficient and boosting research and development of alternative energy sources.
By a 312-111 vote, the House passed a $32 billion measure funding the Department of Energy budget and hundreds of Army Corps of Engineers water projects.
The vote would in theory be large enough to overturn a promised veto of the measure by President Bush, who requested about 4 percent less for programs covered by the measure.
But GOP leaders promise a veto could be sustained given the fact that almost 150 Republicans have signed a letter promising to uphold any of his vetoes of Democratic-drafted spending bills.
Democrats and Republicans alike locked arms Tuesday to reject moves by GOP conservative foes of "pork barrel" projects to cut out what they said were questionable projects. The House had debated the policy initiatives in the bill last month but held off on passing the bill until a supplemental roster of "earmarks" could be added.
Earmarks are back-home projects sought by lawmakers such as grants to local governments and nonprofit organizations, clean water and sewer grants and funding for community health centers, among many kinds of such projects.
Much of the funding above Bush's request would go to boosting clean energy technologies such as research into solar, geothermal and hydropower energy, as well as alternative fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. Research into next generation automobiles designed to limit greenhouse gas emissions would receive a 25 percent increase over current levels.
The energy measure also rejects the Bush administration's plans to develop a new, sturdier nuclear warhead. Opponents of the Reliable Replacement Warhead say it would send the wrong signal to the world on nuclear nonproliferation and should not be pursued before a comprehensive strategy on future nuclear weapons needs is developed.
The House immediately took up the largest of the domestic funding bills, a measure funding education, job training and health research programs, among many others.
The education, labor and health measure provides about $152 billion next year for programs whose budgets are set at lawmakers' discretion each year _ almost $11 billion above the administration's request, which has also earned it a veto promise from Bush.
Across the Capitol, a Senate appropriations panel responsible for the Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration approved a bill providing $18.7 billion in discretionary funding for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.
More than half of the $1 billion overall increase over Bush's request for programs funded by the bill was for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, which provides which provides healthy food such as milk, cheese, eggs, fruit juice and cereal to low-income women and children.
Democrats also boosted funding for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, targeted for elimination by President Bush in February in a cost-cutting move.
The program gives beneficiaries powdered milk, vegetables, cereal, juice, meat, fruit, rice, cheese and other food as an alternative to food stamps.
