The U.S. Senate approved the $447 billion government funding bill for the spending of agencies and Cabinet departments for the 2010 budget year on Sunday.
The omnibus spending plan, which received a mainly partisan vote of 57-35, was passed by the House and will be given to US President Barack Obama for his signature. The defence spending bill, meanwhile, is still pending. However, it is expected to be considered this week.
The omnibus bill has six separate appropriations measures. It funds non-defence government agencies, including the Commerce, Justice, Transportation, Veterans Affairs and State departments. $600 billion in federal spending will also be authorised by the measure. This will fund government programs including Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.
The Democrat-controlled Senate pushed over a Republican denouncement of the measure on Saturday to allow the vote on Sunday to take place.
Exactly 5,244 earmarks are included in the spending bill, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, an independent, nonpartisan group. These pet projects of Congress member cost almost $4 billion.
“I demand the president of the United States keep his word, when he signed another pork-laden bill last March, to veto this bill”, Republican Sen John McCain of Arizona commented before the Sunday session took place.
The bill provides the auto dealers who closed down due to the restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler a chance to be reinstated. The bill establishes a binding arbitration process to let dealers show documents or evidence which could allow their reinstatement.
The bill also allows terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to be transferred to the US for trial.
