Senate Passes $91.3 Billion War Funding Bill

WASHINGTON — The Senate has passed a $91.3 billion war spending bill that would fund stepped-up military operations in Afghanistan but deny President Barack Obama money to close the Guantanamo Bay prison.

The 86-3 vote demonstrated widespread support for increased U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan. A House-Senate compromise should go to Obama shortly after Congress returns next month.

The sweeping legislation also would provide the International Monetary Fund with a new $100 billion credit line and provides $1.5 billion to fight a potential flu epidemic.

A few Democrats said that if they don't see measurable progress in Afghanistan they would rethink their support. The Afghanistan effort is projected to cost more than Iraq starting next year.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Senate on Thursday worked to pass a $91.3 billion military funding bill, shorn of money President Barack Obama wants to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but allowing him to significantly ramp up the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

Senate passage of the measure, which provides money for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, would set up House-Senate talks on a compromise measure to present to Obama next month.

By a 64-30 vote earlier Thursday, the Senate rejected an amendment by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., to kill a proposed $100 billion line of credit for the IMF to shore up the ability of countries around the globe cope with financial crises, along with $8 billion for existing commitments.

But DeMint earned a bipartisan rebuke from the Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who said the IMF funding is critical to avoiding financial instability in the world that could harm the U.S. economy.

"The fact is that if those emerging markets start to fade, not only do we lose the economic upside of those markets but we also run the risk that governments fail," Kerry said.

Both Kerry and Gregg said the true cost to taxpayers would be very small, since the U.S. government is given interest-bearing assets in return and has never lost money on investments in the IMF. They said even the $5 billion cost estimate by the Congressional Budget Office was too high.

Other than that vote, the Senate the floor was often empty Thursday as senators wrestled privately over what final add-ons would make it into the bill.

The underlying war funding measure closely tracks Obama's request for war funds, although the $80 million he was seeking to close the U.S. naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was dropped Wednesday.

The three-day Senate debate featured little of the angst over the situation in Afghanistan that permeated debate in the House last week on companion legislation.

"The majority of Afghans do not support a surge in U.S. forces and a majority in the south even oppose the presence of U.S. troops," Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said in a statement. "Sending significantly more troops to Afghanistan now could end up doing more harm than good _ further inflaming civilian resentment without significantly contributing to stability in that country."

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., also injected a cautionary note into the debate.

"I want to give this administration...the resources it needs to successfully end these wars," Boxer said. "I don't support an open-ended commitment of American troops to Afghanistan; and if we do not see measurable progress, we must reconsider our engagement and strategy there."

Obama is sending more than 20,000 additional troops there and, for the first time next year, the annual cost of the war in Afghanistan is projected to exceed the cost of fighting in Iraq.

With support forces, the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan is expected to be about 68,000 by the end of the year _ more than double the size of the U.S. force at the end of 2008.

The Senate bill includes $1.5 billion as cautionary funding to fight a possible flu pandemic, including the current outbreak of H1N1 swine flu.

The underlying war funding measure has gotten relatively little attention, even though it would boost total approved spending for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars above $900 billion.

The Pentagon would receive $73 billion under the legislation, including $4.6 billion to train and equip Afghan and Iraqi security forces, $400 million to train and equip Pakistan's security forces, and $21.9 billion to procure new mine-resistant vehicles, aircraft, weapons and ammunition, among other items.

The House version adds $11.8 billion to Obama's request, including almost $4 billion for new weapons and military equipment such as eight C-17 cargo planes, mine-resistant vehicles, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Stryker armored vehicles. The measure adds $2.2 billion to Obama's request for foreign aid _ much of which appears to be designed to get around spending limits for 2010.

The Senate measure also includes $6.9 billion in foreign aid, mainly for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. There's also $50 million to combat AIDS overseas, and $173 million for peacekeeping operations in Somalia and elsewhere.

The bill also contains $350 million for various security programs along the U.S.-Mexico border. But the money would not be awarded to the Pentagon, as Obama requested.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, pushed a proposal to give Chrysler LLC dealers 60 days to close their dealerships instead of three weeks outlined by the company. Seeking leverage, her measure would prevent the Treasury Department from providing money to an auto company that failed to give a dealership at least 60 days to wind down its operations and sell its inventory.