Real ID Act Passes the House

The REAL ID Act (H.R. 418) as part of an appropirations bill for the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars has passed the House of Representatives. Yahoo News has the story here:

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted to replenish military funds depleted by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, money needed to buy everything from bullets to armored trucks.

By a vote of 368-58, the House embraced the $82 billion measure that also provides more funds for relief efforts related to December’s Indian Ocean tsunami, imposes new immigration controls that supporters say are needed in the post-Sept. 11 era and spends more to secure U.S. borders.

The Senate is expected to approve the House-Senate compromise bill next week, clearing the way for President Bush to sign it into law.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis urged quick approval of the measure because of looming supply shortages for American soldiers. “Our forces (in Iraq) are on gas fumes rather than real gasoline,” said the California Republican.

The majority of the new money, $76 billion, would go to the
Pentagon to fund combat in Iraq and Afghanistan through the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30. With this legislation the cost of the wars approaches $300 billion.

The goods the Pentagon says it needs to buy immediately range from big-ticket items such as additional armored and tracked combat vehicles and missiles, to more mundane provisions that are the backbone of any war, including bullets, water purification systems and bandages.

Despite overwhelming support in Congress for the emergency funds, lawmakers from both parties expressed frustration over the Bush administration’s refusal to lay out long-term projected estimates of the cost of the war.

“We have lost 1,500 lives of American servicemen and women. We have seen more than 11,000 be injured and this bill understates, in my view, the amount of money that will be needed eventually to restore the readiness of the U.S. armed forces and to minimize their casualties,” said Rep. David Obey (news, bio, voting record) from Wisconsin, senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

In an attempt to force the White House to provide better war cost estimates, the bill requires the Defense Department to give Congress an assessment of the number of U.S. troops that will be needed in Iraq through next year.

But earlier this week, a Pentagon spokeswoman indicated that such estimates might not be forthcoming.

“War funding needs are closely related to the pace of operations and the situation on the ground,” the spokeswoman told Reuters. “It is not practical to budget for a war this dynamic that far in advance,” she added.

Besides the war funding provisions, the legislation spends $907 million for tsunami relief. Some of that money reimburses the Pentagon for its aid efforts immediately following the tsunami. Most of the remainder would go to a recovery and reconstruction fund.

PALESTINIAN CONTROVERSY

Palestinians would be aided by an injection of $200 million for trade promotion, agriculture, school construction, police, road building and other activities.

The legislation continues to prohibit the Palestinian Authority from receiving the U.S. economic assistance. And $50 million of the money would be earmarked for Israel to help it “ease the movement of Palestinian people and goods in and out of Israel.”

White House spokesman Scott McClellan was asked whether the United States would undermine Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas by blocking his access to the U.S. funds.

“We haven’t made any decisions on distributing any of this money at this point,” McClellan told reporters. He added, “This is very similar to the way it has been structured in the past. And we believe that we have the flexibility we need.”

Republicans succeeded in attaching another set of hotly contested provisions to the spending bill.

Foreigners seeking asylum in the United States would face tougher requirements and aliens could more easily be deported if they are found to be involved in “terrorist activities.” Driver’s licenses, which are regularly used as identification at airports, would be denied to illegal aliens.

Now, onto the Senate!