Supplemental faces House vote next week
Speaker says the $94.2 billion fiscal 2009 war supplemental is the last of its kind.
The House next week will vote on the $94.2 billion fiscal 2009 supplemental spending package for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said would be the last of its kind. The supplemental is expected to pass with the help of Republicans, even as such liberals as Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., line up to vote against it.
Woolsey, a co-chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said its members will not vote for the measure. Pelosi said annual war costs would be included in the regular budgets after this year, noting this supplemental was needed as "a carry-over" from the Bush administration. A floor vote also is expected on a weapons acquisition reform bill after the Senate unanimously approved a similar measure on Thursday.
The Senate's work week will focus on credit card legislation that would crack down on excessive fees. The final version is still being worked out by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and ranking member Richard Shelby, R-Ala.