Wire: Senate Passes Pentagon Budget, War Funding

Off the Wire:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2009 -- Newswire services this morning reported that the Senate on Tuesday passed a spending bill bringing the total U.S. tab for that war to about $300 billion.

The $626 billion measure, passed 93-7, also would ban outright any transfer of accused enemy combatants from the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility into the United States. Current law permits transfer of detainees to face trial or go to prison.

The Associated Press said the bill combines $128 billion for overseas military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan with $498 billion for the rest of the Defense Department's budget. An analysis by congressional researchers puts the tally for Afghanistan at about $300 billion and for Iraq at more than $700 billion since Sept. 11, 2001 -- totaling more than $1 trillion.

The bill must now be reconciled with a measure that passed the House this summer and will then be presented to Obama for his signature.

The measure also contains $2.7 billion worth of pet projects sought by senators, commonly known as "earmarks," including funding for-profit companies to develop new technologies. The Senate by voice vote rejected a bid by McCain to require earmarked for-profit companies to be subject to competitive bidding, in keeping with reforms instituted by the House, AP noted.

The following senators voted against the bill:

Barrasso (R-WY)
Coburn (R-OK)
DeMint (R-SC)
Enzi (R-WY)
Feingold (D-WI)
Graham (R-SC)
McCain (R-AZ)

See the link below for details.

(Report from newswire sources.)

Source: Senate passes Pentagon budget, war funding