House "may" Consider War Supplemental On Thursday

By Daniel W. Reilly

(The Politico)  House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday the House "may consider" a supplemental spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on Thursday.

If the measure does hit the House floor on Thursday, it would likely mean the bill would bypass the House Appropriations Committee, much to the Republicans' chagrin.

On Monday, Rep Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee led a protest on the House floor against the notion that Democrats would bypass the committee with the bill, saying it subverts the democratic process.

In a Tuesday morning press conference, Hoyer said the bill would cost $170 billion, which would seem to confirm media reports that Democratic leaders are going to combine President Bush's request of $108 billion for the rest of 2008, with an additional request of $70 billion in war funding for 2009.

Hoyer said he also hoped the supplemental would include some domestic spending, address the issue of redeploying American troops and address a recent status of forces agreement that President Bush has been trying to negotiate with the Iraqi government.