Bush to spend $9.2 billion on nuclear weapons for the current fiscal year.
: Senate approves more flood, nuclear arms funds
Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:35 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Monday gave final congressional approval to a $30.5 billion bill that provides more funds for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to look at ways to better protect the Gulf Coast from hurricanes and to expand nuclear weapons programs.
The fiscal 2006 spending bill, which funds several federal agencies and was previously approved by the House of Representatives, now goes to President George W. Bush to sign into law.
The Army Corps of Engineers would be funded at $5.4 billion, about $1 billion more than Bush requested in February, according to Sen. Pete Domenici, the New Mexico Republican who pushed the bill through the Senate.
Domenici noted that the legislation funds a study to investigate storm protections that are needed for New Orleans and the vicinity.
New Orleans was flooded in late August when levees broke shortly after Hurricane Katrina moved over the Gulf Coast.
Additional Army Corps of Engineers funds are being provided through emergency hurricane aid bills approved by Congress in September.
The Energy Department's programs funding nuclear weapons, nonproliferation and other activities would get $9.2 billion for the current fiscal year, an increase of $217 million over last year.
But Congress is denying the Bush administration $4 million it wanted for the Energy Department to study the feasibility of a "bunker buster" nuclear bomb. The weapon, which is also being studied by the Pentagon, would penetrate the earth and explode to demolish buried enemy targets.
The House did not include the funds in its original version of the bill and Senate Democrats opposed the program, saying it would encourage other countries to develop their own nuclear arsenals.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said that with a high priority on funding flood-control projects, renewable energy programs were being short-changed. "We must do better in future years," Reid said.
� Reuters 2005. All rights reserved."
Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:35 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Monday gave final congressional approval to a $30.5 billion bill that provides more funds for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to look at ways to better protect the Gulf Coast from hurricanes and to expand nuclear weapons programs.
The fiscal 2006 spending bill, which funds several federal agencies and was previously approved by the House of Representatives, now goes to President George W. Bush to sign into law.
The Army Corps of Engineers would be funded at $5.4 billion, about $1 billion more than Bush requested in February, according to Sen. Pete Domenici, the New Mexico Republican who pushed the bill through the Senate.
Domenici noted that the legislation funds a study to investigate storm protections that are needed for New Orleans and the vicinity.
New Orleans was flooded in late August when levees broke shortly after Hurricane Katrina moved over the Gulf Coast.
Additional Army Corps of Engineers funds are being provided through emergency hurricane aid bills approved by Congress in September.
The Energy Department's programs funding nuclear weapons, nonproliferation and other activities would get $9.2 billion for the current fiscal year, an increase of $217 million over last year.
But Congress is denying the Bush administration $4 million it wanted for the Energy Department to study the feasibility of a "bunker buster" nuclear bomb. The weapon, which is also being studied by the Pentagon, would penetrate the earth and explode to demolish buried enemy targets.
The House did not include the funds in its original version of the bill and Senate Democrats opposed the program, saying it would encourage other countries to develop their own nuclear arsenals.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said that with a high priority on funding flood-control projects, renewable energy programs were being short-changed. "We must do better in future years," Reid said.
� Reuters 2005. All rights reserved."
posted by Greta Jane at Wednesday, November 16, 2005
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