By David Clarke and Liriel Higa, CQ Staff

The House moved a massive year-end spending bill on to the Senate late Monday night after the White House said it was “encouraged” by what the Democrats had produced.

The House moved the bill after adopting two amendments that comprised the text of the omnibus. The first amendment, approved on a 253-154 vote, provided $484.7 billion in regular and emergency spending for the 11 appropriations bills yet to be enacted this year. The second amendment, approved 206-201, provided $31 billion for the war in Afghanistan and certain domestic Pentagon needs.

The Senate is expected to take up the bill on Tuesday.

The package largely adheres to President Bush’s overall $933 billion target for fiscal 2008 discretionary spending. Democrats had wanted to spend $23 billion more for veterans and various domestic priorities such as education, but they did not have enough Republican support to overcome repeated veto threats.

They decided to meet Bush’s spending target rather than leave for the year with their appropriations work unfinished, as Republicans did at the end of the last Congress a year ago.

The White House is still combing through the massive bill (HR 2764), but administration officials sent positive signals. “We’re encouraged the funding level has moved down to the president’s number,” said Sean Kevelighan, a spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget.

He made clear Bush is still waiting for Congress to provide funds for the war in Iraq. The House bill includes $31 billion in emergency funding for operations in Afghanistan and equipment for protecting U.S. troops, but it prohibits use of the money for operations in Iraq.

Senate Republicans are expected to offer an amendment to provide $70 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, without strings attached. Without such war money, Bush will veto the bill, Kevelighan said.

The omnibus package includes 11 of the 12 appropriations bills for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Only the Defense appropriations bill has been enacted (PL 110-116).

The administration later released a policy statement saying Bush would veto the bill if funding for military operations in Iraq is not included in the final version. The Senate is expected to add that funding as early as Tuesday.

The statement contained no other veto threat but expressed some dissatisfaction with the amount of emergency funding in the bill and the amount of earmarks. Still, these concerns don’t appear strong enough to prevent the president from signing the bill into law.

Waiting on War Funding

Bush, at an event in Fredericksburg, Va., said, “I’m pleased to report that we’re making some pretty good progress toward coming up with a fiscally sound budget — one that meets priorities, helps on some emergencies, and enables us to say that we’ve been fiscally sound with the people’s money.”

He warned, however, that the final bill “must also include funding for our troops in harm’s way, “ and do so without any “artificial timetable for withdrawal.”

A number of House Republicans are expected to vote against the initial proposal, since it omits the Iraq funding, including the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee, Rep. Jerry Lewis of California, and Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio.

“I will oppose the bill tonight, and I will urge my colleagues to do the same,” Boehner said.

If the Senate adds funding for the Iraq war, as expected, that should make the bill palatable to most Republicans. House leaders likely will need their support to clear the legislation, as significant numbers of anti-war Democrats may oppose the omnibus if it provides more Iraq war funds.

Sen. Carl Levin , D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he is talking to Republican senators in a bid to gain their support for a second-degree amendment that would add “Iraq-related language” if Republicans seek to add $70 billion in war funding.

“Whoever offers additional funding, I would try — at the moment — to offer hopefully on a bipartisan basis some Iraq-related language,” Levin said. “That’s all I can tell you.” Democrats would like some restrictions on the Iraq funding but the White House and Republicans have insisted no “strings” be attached.

“They’re not amenable to anything,” Levin said, referring to the White House.

GOP Protests

Democrats did not release the text of their legislation until about 12:15 a.m. Monday. That brought protests from Republicans because they wanted more time to review the legislation before the vote.

“Just three years ago, then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the refusal to allow members three days to read legislation before voting on it ‘martial law’,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling , R-Texas, head of the conservative Republican Study Committee. “Abandoning her word, Speaker Pelosi is now engaging in ‘martial law’ herself by trying to force a 3,500-page bill containing 11 individual spending bills through Congress before anyone knows exactly what is in it.”

Emergency Funds, Earmarks

The year-end appropriations package would provide about $516 billion in fiscal 2008. Most of that funding, $473.5 billion, would go toward the 11 regular appropriations bills that have yet to be completed. The Defense bill (PL 110-116), which provided $459.3 billion in discretionary spending, has been signed into law. When these bills are added together, they meet the president’s request of $932.8 billion in discretionary spending for the 12 annual spending bills.

The rest of the funding in the year-end package is designated as emergency spending, which does not count against budget caps. Democrats chose to designate $3.7 billion for veterans programs as contingent emergency funds, leaving it up to Bush to decide whether to spend the money or not. He had wanted that funding offset, but Democrats declined to do so.

If Bush decides to spend the funding, he must send a formal budget request to Congress by Jan. 18. Veterans groups have already begun pressing the White House to release the funds.

The omnibus also would provide $7.5 billion in emergency funding for such things as border security, drought relief aid and wildfire programs.

The defense bill included $6.4 billion in emergency spending for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster fund, a Louisiana housing program and wildfire accounts.

Earmark critics were quick to criticize the inclusion of member projects in the bill. Some Republicans contend there are more than 8,000 earmarks in the omnibus measure. A quick count by the office of Sen. Tom Coburn , R-Okla., came up with more than 9,000 earmarks, meaning that there would be about 11,000 earmarks when counting those already enacted in the Defense appropriations bill.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey , D-Wis., had threatened to eliminate all earmarks from the bill when it became clear that Democrats would have to accede to the president’s $933 billion request for the 12 bills, but that proposal was received with little enthusiasm.

“It is unfortunate that, given all the talk of reform, this is what we get,” said persistent earmark critic Rep. Jeff Flake , R-Ariz. Still, the earmark total is expected to be significantly less than in fiscal 2006.

Most of the fiscal 2007 spending bills were not completed by the previous Congress, with Congress resorting to a continuing resolution that did not include new earmarks.

Kathleen Hunter and Jonathan Allen contributed to this story.

First posted Dec. 17, 2007 3:04 p.m.