Congress passes spending bill

Congress gave President Bush $70 billion for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as the House passed a massive omnibus spending bill Dec. 19. 

The final passage of the $516 billion Consolidation Appropriations Act funds all federal departments, except the Defense Department, for fiscal 2008.

The president threatened to veto the appropriations bill if it lacked money for military operations. The House passed the omnibus bill Dec. 17 with $31 billion for military operations but no money for the Iraq war. The Senate added the $70 billion for war funding Dec. 18 to avoid a possible veto.

The amendment is critical to the bill's final passage in the Senate and then getting the president to sign it into law.

The government's temporary funding will expire Dec. 21, the deadline for the current continuing resolution.

The bill would require the Office of Management and Budget and other agencies to justify why they intend to participate in e-government initiatives, how much they plan to spend and how the initiatives are relevant to the agency's mission.