House likely to shift Iraq reconstruction funding in supplemental

House Appropriations Committee aides are readying the reconstruction portion of President Bush's $87 billion fiscal 2004 supplemental request, which they aimed to circulate Monday afternoon. The amount is likely to be similar to the administration's request, but with significant funding shifts in the reconstruction title.

The committee draft is likely to contain a top-line figure close to the administration's $21.4 billion request. The much larger military title may not be ready until Wednesday, a GOP aide said, which would only give panel members until Thursday morning to review it and prepare amendments for that day's markup.

But the overall funding is expected to remain close to the $87 billion figure, and the defense portion is much less controversial than the reconstruction section, particularly for Iraq.

Members on both sides of the aisle are questioning items on the Coalition Provisional Authority's wish list, such as $6,000 satellite phones and $33,000 garbage trucks, and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., has vowed to cut funds for what he alleges are unnecessary items.

A Democratic aide said there could be attempts to increase funds to buy lightweight sapping plates to improve Kevlar vest protection for up to 40,000 soldiers, a top priority of Defense Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member John Murtha, D-Pa., as well as to equip Humvees with better protection against rocket-propelled grenades.

The Iraq reconstruction funds would focus on "real infrastructure, not social infrastructure," the aide said, shifting money away from items such as $100 million to begin a witness protection program. Kolbe also is insisting that the Iraq reconstruction funds be in the form of grants, not loans. Otherwise, the October 23-24 donors' conference in Madrid "could turn into a 'lenders' conference," he said.

While the House panel marks up its version of the bill Thursday in advance of floor action the following week, the Senate is in recess and will resume its debate next Tuesday.

In addition to several attempts to convert grant money into a loan or loan guarantee program, amendments seeking to add $1.3 billion in veterans' health care funds are expected from VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo., and ranking member Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.

Also anticipated is an amendment by Appropriations ranking member Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., to cut $600 million aimed at hunting for weapons of mass destruction and use the money instead to locate conventional weapons, as well as cut funds for marshlands restoration, job training and ZIP codes, among other items on the administration's wish list; and an amendment by Minority Whip Reid and other Democrats to cut $5 billion in Iraq reconstruction funds and add funds for veterans' health care and other domestic needs, such as highways and mass transit.