This legislation (H.R. 4939) would appropriate a whopping $91.9 billion for emergency supplemental funding in fiscal 2006, including $67.6 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, $4.3 billion for foreign aid, and $19.2 billion for Hurricane Katrina relief. Congressional Quarterly noted that the funding in the bill “for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would push to more than $390 billion the war-related supplemental funds appropriated since Sept. 11. It would be the sixth major emergency spending measure for the Bush administration.”
The House passed H.R. 4939 on March 16, 2006 by a vote of 348-71 (Roll Call 65). We have assigned pluses to the nays because — even if the spending were constitutional — the funding should be voted on as part of the regular appropriations process and not introduced after the fact as “emergency” spending, ignoring fiscal responsibility. The Senate passed a similar supplemental appropriations bill several weeks later (see Senate vote #27).
