Congress sends Bush budget bill with Iraq money

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives approved a $556 billion bill on Wednesday to fund most of the federal government through September 2008, ending a year-long budget fight with President George W. Bush by also including new money for the Iraq war.

The House gave final congressional approval to the bill, which was cleared by the Senate late on Tuesday. It now goes to Bush for his expected approval.

Anti-war Democrats protested the new round of Iraq money, which they said gave Bush a "blank check" to run the war.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat, sounded resigned to at least another year of funding the war in Iraq, against his wishes. He said the only option for changing direction in Iraq was to "elect more progressive voices to the United States Senate" and "elect a president with a different set of priorities."

The U.S. presidential and congressional elections will be held in November 2008.

The White House said it was glad Congress passed the budget measure.

"We're pleased that Congress was able to pass legislation to fund the government this year without raising taxes and within the president's reasonable spending limits. It's also crucial that they provided $70 billion in funding for our troops in harm's way," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

The legislation wraps together 11 of the 12 bills the U.S. Congress must handle every year to fund government programs ranging from health care for the poor and elderly to law enforcement, space exploration, food stamps for the poor, foreign aid and border security.

Already enacted into law was a $460 billion measure to fund the Pentagon's regular activities, not counting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

FIGHTING ALL YEAR

Democrats in Congress fought with Bush all year, scoring some victories, in their push to spend more to improve domestic social programs such as early education for poor children, home heating aid for low-income families and expanded health care.

But much of the fiscal 2008 budget fight centered on the Iraq war. The $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan included in the catch-all spending bill will inject enough new money to keep combat going through May or June, according to some estimates.

Its inclusion marked another defeat for anti-war Democrats in Congress who labored to link Iraq war money to timetables for withdrawing U.S. troops and bringing the nearly 5-year-old war to an end.

But the money represents much less than half of the nearly $190 billion Bush had requested for the wars, most of it to be dedicated to Iraq. This was what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called putting Bush on a "short lease." It also means Democrats and Bush likely are headed for a renewed fight next year.

The House Minority Leader, Ohio Republican John Boehner said next year Republicans will continue opposing "partisan gimmicks, withdrawal timelines" on funding the Iraq war.