War-funding bill passes in the Senate

WASHINGTON —  In a resounding break from President Bush, a majority of Senate Republicans joined Democrats on Thursday in approving a war-funding bill that would provide for a major expansion of the World War II-era GI Bill.

The measure must be approved by the House, and the White House has threatened to veto it. But the GOP defections -- followed by a lopsided vote to override Bush’s veto of a farm bill -- underscored a growing willingness among Republicans to go their own way as they look ahead to their own reelection campaigns.

The new veterans education benefit also erupted as an issue in the presidential campaign, as Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, exchanged sharp words.

The White House has objected to the billions of dollars in spending included for such things as jobless benefits and energy assistance, which brought the bill’s total to about $212 billion, including $165 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This is the wrong way to consider domestic spending, and Congress should not go down this path,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

The Pentagon has expressed concern that the new GI benefit, which provides returning troops with a free college education after three years of active duty, could spur retirements at a time when the military is struggling to retain troops.

But lawmakers were eager to show support for the troops before Memorial Day.

Obama and his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, broke off campaigning to return to the Capitol to vote for the GI benefit.

Obama, taking a shot at McCain, said, “I respect Sen. John McCain’s service to our country. . . . But I can’t understand why he would line up behind the president in opposition to this GI bill.”

McCain was attending campaign events in California during the vote but responded in a lengthy statement that Obama had “less than zero understanding” of the issue.

“It is typical, but no less offensive, that Sen. Obama uses the Senate floor to take cheap shots at an opponent,” McCain said. “And I will not accept from Sen. Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did.”

Obama later dismissed McCain’s attacks as “schoolyard taunts.”

McCain, a former prisoner of war, said he supported an alternative that would not encourage troops to leave the service “after they have completed one enlistment.”

But his position pits him against some of the Senate’s other veterans, including Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and John W. Warner (R-Va.), both former Navy secretaries.

After the vote, Warner said, “I don’t know of any day that I’ll cherish or remember more than this one” in his 30 years in the Senate.

Clinton also spoke out for the GI benefits. “We often hear wonderful rhetoric in this chamber in support of our troops and our veterans. But the real test isn’t the speeches we deliver, but whether or not we deliver on the speeches.”

Asked about the GOP support, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who opposed the domestic spending portions, said, “I would say that’s why we’re not a majority anymore.”

The additional spending, which passed by a veto-proof margin of 75 to 22 in the Senate, could encounter trouble when the House considers it after a weeklong Memorial Day recess.

The House voted last week to support the new GI benefit. But lawmakers in that chamber want to finance it through a new 0.5% tax on people earning more than $500,000 or couples earning more than $1 million. The Senate measure omits the tax, which could complicate efforts to reach a final bill.

The Senate bill includes funding for anti-crime grants, NASA, Gulf Coast hurricane recovery and wildfire prevention. It would extend unemployment benefits for workers whose benefits have run out, providing as much as 13 weeks of coverage nationwide, with an additional 13 weeks in states with high unemployment, like California.

The veterans education benefit would offer full tuition up to the cost of the most expensive in-state public university -- plus stipends for books and housing -- for a veteran who has served three years of active duty since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The $165 billion to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan would carry those operations into next year, after a new president takes office. Republicans again rebuffed Democratic efforts to set timelines for troop withdrawal, but Democrats appeared satisfied with the outcome.

“I hope President Bush watches closely what happened here today,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said after the vote. “And I hope he heeds the call of a bipartisan, veto-proof majority of Congress and the thousands of veterans who know we owe our veterans the support they deserve.”

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richard.simon@latimes.com