Below is a list of some of the provisions that survived committee consideration, and may stay in the bill after it is debated and amended on the Senate floor.
WAR SPENDING
The Senate is expected to vote on a bill that would:
- include $165.4 billion in spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including $99.5 billion for fiscal year 2008 and $65.9 billion for fiscal year 2009.
WAR POLICY
The Senate is expected to vote on a bill that would:
- express the “sense of Congress” that the mission of armed forces in Iraq “should be transitioned to counter-terrorism, training Iraqi forces, and force protection," with the goal of completing the transition by June 2009;
- ban any permanent U.S. bases in Iraq and bar the United States from exerting control over Iraqi oil resources.
- limit the duration of combat deployments for U.S. troops and increase “dwell time” at home between rotations;
- prohibit U.S. armed forces from being subject to Iraqi law;
- mandate that the United States negotiate an agreement with Iraq to subsidize fuel costs for U.S. troops so that the U.S. armed forces pay the same price as Iraqi civilians pay; and
- limit any U.S. funding for Iraqi reconstruction to projects costing less than $2 million dollars and ensure that the Iraqi government pay for the Iraqi Security Forces and the “Sons of Iraq.”
DOMESTIC SPENDING
The Senate is expected to vote on a bill that would:
- provide relief to the unemployed during the economic recession by extending unemployment benefits by 13 weeks for all workers and allowing an additional 13 weeks for workers in high-unemployment states at a cost of $11.1 billion over 10 years;
- delay seven Medicaid rules issued by the Bush administration that were intended to narrow certain services, limit others eligible for federal reimbursements and end some accounting maneuvers used by the states; these regulations would hit low-income children and people with disabilities the hardest, as a number of services on which they depend could face significant cutbacks;
- expand educational benefits for all military service members who have served in active duty since September 11, 2001 at a cost of $51.6 billion over 10 years.
- provide $5.8 billion for levee reconstruction and other Gulf Coast hurricane recovery efforts, in addition to $4.6 billion for other disaster aid and $1.3 billion for global food aid; and
- include $275 million for the Food and Drug Administration, $490 million for Byrne antidrug law-enforcement grants, $470 million to fight wildfires, $1.2 billion for science programs, $400 million for rural schools, and $451 million for damaged roads and bridges.
INTERNATIONAL FUNDING
- increase funding for diplomacy by including funds for the State Department and USAID to set up and staff a federal civilian peace-builders program ($55 million) and to hire more diplomats to fill vacant diplomatic missions throughout the world ($30 million); and
- provide $334 million for the peacekeeping mission in Darfur and $45 million to support elections in south Sudan.