WASHINGTON, June 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. Senate committee Thursday approved more than $14 billion in defense cuts while boosting domestic programs.
The Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday afternoon approved its fiscal 2007 subcommittee spending allocations under an $872.8 billion overall cap, CongressDaily reported.
"I realize that the task before the subcommittee chairmen will be difficult as they work to meet many competing interests with a scarce amount of resources," Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., said. "But I am confident that the committee will present conscientious and fiscally sensible spending bills to the Senate."
As expected, the allocations shift $11.4 billion in defense and foreign aid spending to boost other programs, including education, health care, and law enforcement, CongressDaily said.
Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said the overall spending cap falls $14 billion short of what is necessary just to keep pace with inflation. He said the $11.4 billion shift away from defense and foreign aid to domestic programs would not survive House-Senate negotiations, with the Bush administration also at the table.
Byrd noted that the House's $4 billion Defense cut from President George W. Bush's request has already prompted the White House to issue a veto threat if the cut widens later in the process. "When we go to conference, we know what will happen," he said.
Cochran would shift $9 billion away from proposed defense increases. The Pentagon would still receive $414.5 billion, a 3.8 percent increase over this year. State Department and foreign aid accounts would lose $2.4 billion of a proposed $3.6 billion increase, but would still see a 4.1 percent boost from fiscal 2006, CongressDaily said.
