House votes to boost homeland security spending

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $39 billion Department of Homeland Security spending bill for next fiscal year that would boost its funding by nearly $1 billion, shifting deeper cuts into other domestic agencies.

The measure passed on a 245-182 vote largely along party lines in the Republican-controlled chamber. It faces a veto threat from President Barack Obama, who considers House Republicans' $967 billion limit for next fiscal year on spending controlled by Congress to be too low.

In the Senate, led by Democrats, members of the Appropriations Committee are writing spending bills to a $1.058 trillion level that assumes replacement in the next fiscal year of the automatic cuts required under the sequester that went into effect on March 1. The new fiscal year starts on October 1.

The House Homeland Security bill would provide a $981 million increase above the current sequestration levels, but adoption in the Senate is unlikely.

The White House budget office this week said it would recommend that Obama veto all of the spending bills passed by the House for the new fiscal year that starts on October 1 unless they are passed in the context of a broader budget deal that does not contain "draconian" budget cuts for domestic agencies.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Vicki Allen)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-votes-boost-homeland-security-spending-162726406.html

kyle orton kyle orton 2012 ncaa bracket john carlson greg smith catamount mike dantoni