House passes $453.3 billion defense bill

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives passed a $453.3 billion defense spending bill on Thursday, which included $50 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and funding for other needs including rebuilding from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

The bill, which now goes to President George W. Bush for his signature, was approved by the Senate on Wednesday after Democrats forced the Republican majority to strip from it a measure opening an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling.

The $50 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is to carry the Pentagon until Congress acts on another emergency war supplemental next year, which lawmakers expect to be between $80 billion and $100 billion.
....
Rep. David Obey (news, bio, voting record) of Wisconsin, the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, attacked a provision that House and Senate Republican leaders inserted into the bill giving drug companies protection from lawsuits.

Obey, who said he would support narrow protections for manufacturers of avian flu vaccines, criticized the provision he said provides "all sorts of insulation for pharmaceutical companies, not just drugs to deal with the flu, but a far broader range of products."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051222/pl_nm/congress_defense_dc_3