Senate's $31 billion anti-terror bill stalled

WASHINGTON -- A $31.4 billion anti-terrorism bill became entangled in a fight Wednesday over long-range spending limits and accusations that senators were playing politics.

Senators haggled over whether to add five-year spending limits and other budgetary controls to the bill. One such effort by Sens. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Russell Feingold, D-Wis., and other fiscal conservatives fell short of the 60 votes needed to clear a procedural hurdle, losing by 49-49.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., accused Republicans of needlessly holding up the bill and the money it contains for military and intelligence operations and tighter security in the United States. He said it is part of a GOP strategy to slow the Senate's work, which would limit the achievements majority Democrats could cite in this fall's election campaigns.

'It is politics'

Delaying a bill "dealing with troops overseas, with all the threats ... is inexcusable," he said. "It is politics. It has everything to do with slowing this bill down to a screeching halt."

Some Republicans said they wanted to insert overall spending limits into the bill because bipartisan disputes have kept the Senate from passing a budget this year, leaving no brakes on potential federal expenditures. That was the fault of Democrats, they said.

"The majority party ... has refused to budget," said Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.

Behind-the-scenes talks between top Democrats and Republicans -- including the White House -- have not lead to an agreement on limiting spending for next year and procedures for enforcing it. Such procedures, in place for more than a decade, expire Oct. 1.

Without an agreement, Daschle said he was likely to move a separate bill soon that would increase the government's borrowing limit by about $450 billion.

The White House says the debt limit must be raised by late June or a federal default will occur.

But Republicans want the language included in the anti-terrorism bill to avoid a separate vote on an issue many of them find politically awkward.

Daschle planned a procedural vote for Thursday, which seemed likely to succeed, that would limit delaying tactics and could lead to the bill's completion by week's end. Even so, some Republicans were considering amendments on stripping individual items from the bill, such as $2 million to better store the Smithsonian Museum's large alcohol collection. Supporters say the chemicals are highly explosive.

Meanwhile, the Senate demonstrated the power of a veto threat by White House officials who say the overall bill is too costly and rejected an effort to add $150 million to it for schools.

The rejected amendment by Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., would have provided money to help communities operate summer schools. It failed 60-38 after Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., warned colleagues against approving it.

"We ought to be very careful to be adding amendments on this floor that will make it easier for the administration to make its case" that the bill is too expensive, Byrd said.

The bill also contains money for tougher immigration law enforcement, helping New York recover from the Sept. 11 attacks, and aid for Afghanistan.