GOP senators back few changes in Bush's $87 billion plan

The battle over $20.3 billion for reconstruction has turned political.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats and some Republicans are hoping to rewrite President Bush's $87 billion package for Iraq and Afghanistan, but top GOP senators are supporting only a few changes in the White House request.
The Senate Appropriations Committee planned votes today on its version of the legislation, with a showdown afterward in the full Senate. The bill, written by panel Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, mostly follows Bush's proposal but would forbid using the money to repay deposed President Saddam Hussein's foreign debt and limit some flexibility for spending the funds that Bush sought.
The committee's top Democrat, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, said Republicans were leading "a mad rush" to push the bill through the Senate. Most of their focus was on $20.3 billion, the same amount Bush requested, for rebuilding Iraq's economy, public works and government.
"Make no mistake: This bill is the beginning of an enormous, years-long commitment to Iraq for a mission that may well be impossible," Byrd said.
Removing troops
Republicans defended the reconstruction funds as the best way to stabilize the country so that American troops can be removed from a country where they are suffering almost daily casualties.
"It's risky, really risky," Stevens said. "But if it comes through, we will not have an Army occupation. If it comes through, we're getting more of our people home."
Republicans and Democrats alike seem ready to support the near $66 billion for U.S. military operations in both countries.
The battle over the $20.3 billion for reconstruction underscores how the issue has evolved into a highly political one. Democrats want to cast Bush as promoting an ineffective and expensive foreign policy, even as the federal deficit is about to set a new record surpassing $400 billion.
Feeling some of that pressure, members of both parties plan to try transforming the rebuilding funds into loans Iraq would have to repay.
Against loan
In a private Capitol meeting, White House budget chief Joshua Bolten and Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice urged GOP senators to not make the program a loan, arguing it would hurt Iraq's economy. But in an interview, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she and others would try anyway, to lessen "the impact on American taxpayers."
The House has yet to write its version of the legislation.
As the Republican-run Congress did last spring with an initial $79 billion package for the war, the Senate GOP bill limits Bush's ability to control the funds without dealing with Congress. For example, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could shift only $2.5 billion, not the $5 billion Bush proposed, among various accounts after merely notifying lawmakers.
No debt payments
The Senate bill also has an explicit prohibition against using the funds "to pay any costs associated with debts incurred by the former government of Saddam Hussein."
Administration officials have told Congress repeatedly that they oppose using any of the money to pay debts owed by Iraq's now deposed ruler. Stevens' decision to include the new provision highlights that issue's sensitivity for lawmakers.
Stevens' bill makes other minor changes as well in Bush's proposal, adding reports that the administration would have to submit to Congress and shifting some money around.
It would add $300 million for body armor and other equipment for troops, and $32 million to reimburse New York City for protecting foreign diplomats over the past two years.
Offering bounty
To the $50 million Bush requested for rewards for the capture of Osama bin Laden and Saddam, Stevens added a $2 million bounty for the person deemed most responsible for crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone. So far, international courts have given that label to one person: former Liberian President Charles Taylor, now in exile in Nigeria.
In a nod to Majority Leader Bill Frist's home state of Tennessee, the legislation mentions that the appropriations panel strongly supports an emergency health care effort for children, run in part by the Vanderbilt University Children's Hospital, which has been providing the services for free.
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