U.S. House endorses new defense bill after Bush veto

Source: Xinhua | 01-17-2008 08:10

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed a revised defense authorization bill on Wednesday after President George W. Bush vetoed the original one that draw complaints from the Iraqi government.

Those complaints prompted Bush to veto the original defense bill last month.

He said a provision in the bill which would allow victims of terrorism to be awarded compensation from frozen foreign assets of "state sponsors of terror", could have crippled the fledgling Iraqi government with billions of U.S. dollars in liability.

The revised bill, which the House passed by a vote of 369-46, excludes Iraq from the provision, but other so called "state sponsors of terrorism", such as Iran and Syria, could see frozen assets used as compensation.

All together, the bill allows the Pentagon to spend 696 billion U.S. dollars in fiscal year 2008 that begun Oct. 1, 2007.

Among the total, 189 billion dollars are earmarked for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

However, the defense authorization bill only authorize the amount the Pentagon could use and there is no guarantee the military will get the money.

A separate defense appropriation bill is needed to distribute the funds.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei