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The Democratic-controlled Senate on Saturday
cleared away a Republican filibuster of a huge end-of-year spending
bill that rewards most federal agencies with generous budget
boosts.


      The $1.1 trillion measure combines much of the year's unfinished
budget work - only a $626 billion Pentagon spending measure would
remain - into a 1,000-plus-page spending bill that would give the
Education Department, the State Department, the Department of
Health and Human Services and others increases far exceeding
inflation.


      The 60-34 vote met the minimum threshold to end the GOP
filibuster. A final vote was set for Sunday afternoon to send the
measure to President Barack Obama.


      Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, an Orthodox Jew
who walks miles to the Capitol when voting on the Sabbath, wore a
black wool overcoat and brilliant orange scarf - as well as a wide
grin - as he provided the crucial 60th vote an hour after the tally
started.


      The measure combines $447 billion in operating budgets with
about $650 billion in mandatory payments for federal benefit
programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. It wraps together six
individual spending bills and also contains more than 5,000
back-home projects sought by lawmakers in both parties.


      The measure provides spending increases averaging about 10
percent to programs under immediate control of Congress, blending
increases for veterans' programs, NASA and the FBI with a pay raise
for federal workers and help for car dealers.


      It bundles six of the 12 annual spending bills, capping a
dysfunctional appropriations process for budget year that began
Oct. 1, with House leaders blocking Republicans from debating key
issues and GOP lawmakers dragged things out.


      Just the $626 billion defense bill would remain. That's being
held back to serve as a vehicle to advance must-pass legislation
such as a plan to allow the government's debt to swell by nearly $2
trillion. The government's total debt has nearly doubled in the
past seven years and is expected to exceed the current ceiling of
$12.1 trillion before Jan. 1.


      Republicans said the measure - on top of February's $787 billion
economic stimulus bill and a generous omnibus measure for the 2009
budget year - spends too much money in a time when the government
is running astronomical deficits.


      "Obviously we need to run the government, but do you suppose
the government could be a little bit like families and be just a
little bit prudent in how much it spends?" said Sen. Jon Kyl,
R-Ariz.


      But the second-ranking Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois,
said the measure restores money for programs cut under President
George W. Bush such as popular grant programs for local police
departments to purchase equipment and put more officers on the
beat.

      The measure contains 5,224 pet projects for lawmakers totaling
$3.9 billion, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a
Washington-based watchdog group.

      Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who leads the transportation,
housing and community development spending panel, obtained 61
earmarks worth $68.8 million in programs under her jurisdiction,
including $1.2 million for infrastructure improvements for the Port
of Everett.

      Her GOP counterpart, Christopher Bond of Missouri, pulled down
21 projects worth $32.5 million from the some portion of the bill,
including $2.5 million for a community center in Kansas City.


      Saturday's bill would offer an improved binding arbitration
process to challenge the decision by General Motors and Chrysler to
close more than 2,000 dealerships, which often anchor fading small
town business districts. It also would renew for two more years a
federal loan guarantee program for steel companies.


      The bill also caps a heated debate over Obama's order to close
the military-run prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. It would permit detainees held there to be transferred to the
United States to stand trial but not to be released.


      The bill would void a long-standing ban on the funding of
abortion by the District of Columbia government and overturns a ban
on federal money for needle exchange programs in the city. It also
would phase out a D.C. school voucher program favored by
Republicans and opens the door for the city to permit medical
marijuana.


      It would also lift a nationwide ban on the use of federal funds
for needle-exchange programs.


      Federal workers would receive pay increases averaging 2 percent,
with people in areas with higher living costs receiving slightly
higher increases.


      Three Republicans helped Democrats advance the measure: Sens.
Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Richard Shelby of Alabama and Susan
Collins of Maine.


      The Democrats opposed were Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Russ
Feingold of Wisconsin, and Claire McCaskill of Missouri - who voted
"no" only after Lieberman arrived to ensure the bill would
advance.

Gallery

The Democratic-controlled Senate on Saturday
cleared away a Republican filibuster of a huge end-of-year spending
bill that rewards most federal agencies with generous budget
boosts.


Senate GOP denied on spending filibuster attempt

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