Bush vows to block Iraq add-ons

President Bush ratcheted up the stakes Thursday in a looming battle with congressional Democrats eager to add many billions of dollars to his long-pending request for war funding.

Bush vowed to veto any bill exceeding his $108 billion request for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, seeking to prevent a repeat of the experience of last year, when Democrats succeeded in adding $17 billion in spending that Bush didn't ask for as part of a $120 billion war-funding bill.

Democrats had been gearing up to add even more to this year's supplemental war funding bill, using the must-pass measure to try to jam spending through that couldn't otherwise make it past Bush's veto pen.

After winning money last spring for farm aid, military base construction, homeland security programs, and health care for children and veterans, Democrats are hoping to load the upcoming Iraq funding bill with billions of dollars.

Democrats haven't decided how much to add to the measure, but they are contemplating up to $10 billion for infrastructure projects like roads, bridges and school construction, and billions more to extend unemployment benefits, create summer jobs and boost home heating subsidies, to name a few items being considered.

Lawmakers are also requesting money for flood protection, areas hit by Hurricane Katrina and additional funding to combat avian flu.

"We're going to look at the supplemental not only for the war funding ... but also what we can do on this bill for summer jobs programs, extending unemployment benefits, some things that would be stimulative to the economy," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said on Tuesday.

"The President is once again asserting that investing in America's needs is somehow 'wasteful' spending, whereas pouring countless billions into Iraq constitutes a wise investment," said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. "He is flat wrong."

Supplemental spending bills are a long-standing springtime ritual in Washington, when Congress adds items such as disaster aid and nutrition assistance to the budget. There's always temptation to tack on additional money for lawmakers' favorites, as well as hitch on policy "riders" that might bog down if advanced on their own.

"You put a supplemental train on the track up there and you know as well as I do that there are lots of cars that get pulled behind it if you're not clear," said Jim Nussle, the White House budget director. "And that's in part why we're being as clear as we are today."

Congressional staff aides say there are real funding shortfalls in several programs, including the Women, Infants and Children program that gives food to the poor and the decennial census, which faces a shortfall of almost $1 billion over 2008-2009.

When they controlled Congress until last year, Republicans largely kept war funding bills free of add-ons. GOP leaders in the House and Senate were disappointed by the White House's willingness to accept domestic add-ons last spring.

Republicans were much more pleased with year-end negotiations on an omnibus spending bill in which Democrats largely agreed to stick within budget limits set by Bush.