US Congress approves $60 billion for Iraq war

The US Congress has approved nearly $80 billion to finance the war in Iraq, reward key allies, bolster anti-terrorism efforts…

The US Congress has approved nearly $80 billion to finance the war in Iraq, reward key allies, bolster anti-terrorism efforts and help struggling airlines.

The Republican-led House of Representatives and Senate passed similar versions of the emergency spending package that gives the Pentagon some $60 billion to fight the war, after Republicans deflected most efforts by Democrats to add billions more to tighten domestic protections against terrorism.

The Senate vote was unanimous; the House vote was 414 to 12.

In key amendments, the House backed President George W. Bush by supporting $1 billion for aid to Turkey, which Washington is trying to coax to be a more co-operative ally in the war with Iraq.

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On another vote, it passed a measure the White House lobbied against to bar money in the bill from going to companies in France, Germany, Russia or Syria to help rebuild Iraq as lawmakers said they should not get business from a war they resisted. The Senate bill did not have that measure.

The House voted 315-110 to reject a bid to block aid to Turkey. Conservatives argued Ankara should be punished for refusing to let the United States invade Iraq from Turkish soil, denying it a northern front in the war.

In a series of amendments, the Senate added $600 million for Iraqi food aid, boosted funds to safeguard urban areas at high risk of terrorism by $500 million and added $105 million to help administer smallpox vaccines to state and local emergency workers.