The Senate defied its majority leader and the threat of a Presidential veto in passing a highly padded version of the 2006 emergency supplemental for the war on terror and hurricane recovery. The more than $14 billion bump up to the Administration request also flies in the face of the House version, which held close to the Administration’s figure of about $92 billion. House leaders say they will not agree to the beefy Senate bill, which includes add-ons ranging from farm subsidies to money for additional C-17s. Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo.) managed to add approximately $227 million to go toward additional C-17 airlifters.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
