• As anticipated, President Bush vetoed the $124 billion bill for funding military operations. The bill would have required the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq as early as next month. And, also as anticipated, the House, by a vote of 222 to 203, failed to override the veto. White House aides and lawmakers were to hammer out a new bill that would be acceptable to the President and have it ready before Congress takes its Memorial Day break. Options on the table were a two-month funding bill that would pay for Bush’s “surge” plan and a bill that would cover war costs until the end of the fiscal year (September 30).
The vetoed bill contained some $20 billion for earmarked or “pork” projects, a new high for pork in an emergency spending bill. Among the projects was $283 million for the Milk Income Loss Contract program, $100 million for a citrus program, $100 million for next year’s Democratic and Republican conventions, $74 million for peanut storage and $20 million for Mormon cricket eradication.
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