NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Tucked away in fine print in the military spending bill for this past year was a lump sum of $20 million to pay for a celebration in Washington "for commemoration of success" in Iraq and Afghanistan, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Congressional Republicans are now saying, in effect, maybe next year, The Times reported. A paragraph written into spending legislation and approved by the Senate and House allows the $20 million to be rolled over into 2007. The original legislation, the newspaper said, empowered the president to designate "a day of celebration" to commemorate the success of the armed forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, and to "issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe that day with appropriate ceremonies and activities." Democrats called attention to the measure, The Times said. The Democrats said both the original language and the extension were pushed by Senate Republicans. A spokesman for the Republican-controlled Senate Armed Services Committee said it was protocol not to identify sponsors of such specific legislation. The overall legislation was approved in the Senate by unanimous consent and overwhelmingly in the House after a short debate, The Times said. The newspaper reported that Lt. Col. Brian Maka, a Pentagon spokesman, said late Tuesday that the event was envisioned as an opportunity for "honoring returning U.S. forces at the conclusion" of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. "As the funds were not used in F.Y. 2006," the official said, using the initials for fiscal year, "the authorization was rolled over into F.Y. 2007." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:217072 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
