US Congress votes 85 billion for Iraq, Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, Oct 18 (AFP) - Both houses of Congress have overwhelmingly approved 85 billion dollars for military deployment and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, meeting most of President George W. Bush's 87 billion dollar request.

The Senate's endorsement by a vote of 87 to 12 on Friday came after the House of Representatives approved the measure by a vote of 202 to 125. A total of 74 Democrats crossed party lines to vote for the bill.

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Both houses are controlled by Bush's Republican Party.

The two bills now go to a House-Senate reconciliation committee where lawmakers will hammer out a single version.

"Today Congress provided a significant shift in momentum by sending the message to our soldiers - help is on the way. And to our enemies - the United States doesn't cut and run," said House Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri.

The Senate watered down Bush's request with an amendment Thursday night requiring Baghdad to pay back half of the 20.3 billion dollars earmarked for Iraqi reconstruction.

And before passing the bill Friday, the Senate trimmed another 1.9 billion dollars with an amendment cutting expenses it deemed unnecessary, including creation of a postal code system for Iraq and construction of a 50, 000-dollar-a-bed prison.

The House voted down amendments that would have created reconstruction loans to Iraq. That difference will have to be resolved in congressional meetings before a final version of the bill can be sent to the president.

Bush hailed the votes Friday, saying the funds "will provide the resources necessary to make Iraq more secure and support its transition to self-government, which is critical to winning the war on terror.

"They will also continue our efforts to help build an Afghanistan that is prosperous, democratic and at peace, and that contributes to regional stability," he said in a statement issued by the White House.

But he chided the Senate for having converting grants to loans.

"Loans are the wrong approach. They would slow the reconstruction of Iraq, delay the democratic process and send the wrong message to both the region and the world," he said.

The Senate amendment that accomplished that also contained a proviso stipulating Bush could reconvert the loans to grants on condition Iraq's main creditors, including France, Russia and Saudi Arabia, agree to wipe out 90 percent of its outstanding debt.

Lawmakers rushed to complete the bill prior to an international donors' conference on Iraqi reconstruction in Madrid next week where US officials will discuss Iraq loan forgiveness with several countries.

The bulk of the US allocation, some 66 billion dollars destined to finance military deployment, went largely uncontested despite public skepticism when Bush announced the request early last month.

The 20.3 billion for reconstruction of war-torn Iraq was the object of tense debate in both houses, however.

The White House has said US loans rather than grants to rebuild Iraq would only serve to reinforce charges in the Middle East that the US military intervention was aimed principally at gaining control of the country's oil reserves, the world's second largest.

Despite intense lobbying by White House officials, many lawmakers said they could not justify spending 87 billion dollars on Iraq when their constituents are suffering from high unemployment and local governments are slashing costs.

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