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Bush threatens to veto spending bill
11/07/2001
By ALAN FRAM WASHINGTON — President Bush promised congressional leaders Tuesday he would
veto any emergency legislation that exceeds the $40 billion Congress has already
provided for anti-terrorism efforts. The pledge, which the president conveyed to leading lawmakers at a White
House meeting, puts Bush in the position of opposing Democrats and some
Republicans who say more money is needed to finance an escalating war in
Afghanistan and to protect the country from bioterrorism, more airline
hijackings and other threats. Many GOP lawmakers, in turn, also will have to choose between supporting more
money for highly popular anti-terrorism programs and backing the president of
their own party. Bush told the leaders that the $40 billion was ``enough ... and he'll veto
anything over that,'' House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., told a reporter.
And one senior administration official present at the meeting said that
according to notes he took, Bush said, ``If I need to, I'll veto the bill.''
With the extra money likely to end up in either a defense spending bill or an
economic stimulus measure, Bush put himself in the awkward position of
threatening to veto legislation that otherwise has strong bipartisan support.
In the days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Bush and congressional
leaders agreed to limit the price tag for all of this year's spending bills to
$686 billion. That is $25 billion more than Bush initially requested, and $44
billion more than was spent in 2001. They also provided $40 billion in emergency spending, half controlled by
Bush, half to be specified in subsequent legislation. And they approved $15
billion to help the airline industry cope with diminished ridership in the
attacks' aftermath. Bush, who in the early months of his presidency said he wanted to slow
government growth, wants Congress to live within those negotiated limits. He is
supported by Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. Lott told reporters that he believes many lawmakers are using the terrorist
attacks as an excuse for more spending. Seeking more money ``to this amount, at
this time, with this cover, is more than I can choke down.'' But Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations
committees — which oversee the spending of one-third of the $2 trillion federal
budget — disagree. They argue that those spending agreements were brokered
before the recent anthrax attacks and the need for broader anti-terror efforts
was clear. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., told Bush that
GOP lawmakers would be forced to take ``bad votes'' if they were forced to
oppose Democratic amendments aimed at boosting spending for the FBI and other
popular anti-terrorism programs, said two participants speaking on condition of
anonymity. Young told reporters later that when his panel writes the anti-terrorism
package, he expects efforts to boost spending for the military and various
domestic programs such as the Coast Guard, border patrol and public health. ``Realistically, I believe the committee would go along with those
amendments,'' Young said. He said he believes about $2 billion more is needed for those domestic
programs, plus billions more for defense and to help New York recover from the
destruction of the World Trade Center. And Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said he
told Bush, ``Go ahead if you feel that way about the bill. Veto it. We have a
responsibility, too. Our people sent us here.'' Byrd has proposed adding $20 billion aimed at securing highways, airports,
water systems, food safety and buttressing law enforcement and other programs.
Young and other Republicans said they are willing to provide the extra money
on a contingency basis, in which Bush could decide to simply not spend it. But citing a worry that federal spending will skyrocket out of control, the
White House wants any additional increases to be postponed until next year. Among their worries is that any additional spending approved now will be
built upon in coming years, possibly forcing Bush to confront an endless stream
of budget deficits just as he prepares for re-election in 2004. In August, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected a $176
billion surplus for fiscal 2002, which began Oct. 1. But as the economy has
stagnated and the expected costs of battling terrorism have grown, congressional
budget writers have estimated that there will probably be a double-digit
billion-dollar deficit. In a related battle, Senate Democrats and Republicans worked toward a $3
billion bioterrorism package Tuesday but differed over how to pay for it.
Democrats apparently want new spending for the package while Republicans want to
use part of the $40 billion already made available by Congress.
Associated Press Writer