See How Your Politicians Voted
Title: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2005
Vote Smart's Synopsis:
Vote to adopt a conference report that provides $82.04 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations for the Defense Department, the war on terrorism, tsunami relief, and other programs for fiscal year 2005.
Highlights:
Immigration
- Requires states to follow specific procedures and enhance security standards when issuing driver's licenses and identification cards.
- Bars known terrorists from abusing U.S. asylum laws.
- Requires the Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security to create a pilot program that would strengthen U.S. border security by using ground surveillance technology.
- Waives environmental laws in order to complete the 14 miles of border fence between the US and Mexico.
- Exempts returning seasonal farm workers from Immigration Department's cap of 66,000 visas specifically issued for seasonal workers by revising certain requirements for H-2B employers and requiring submission of information regarding H-2B non-immigrants.
Defense
- Expresses the sense of the Senate that all future requests for military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq appear in the proper appropriation bills, not in emergency supplemental bills.
- Increases the military's total death benefits from $250,000 to $400,000.
- Increases the death gratuity from $12,000 to $100,000 for all those military personnel killed in combat and applies the increase retroactively beginning with those killed since October 2001.
- Extended insurance payouts for seriously injured troops from $25,000 to $100,000 retroactive for those injured since Oct. 2001.
- Requires the Navy to maintain 12 aircraft carriers.
- $37.10 billion for military operations and maintenance.
- $17.45 billion for military personnel.
- $17.38 billion for procurement of aircraft, combat vehicles, missiles, weapons, and ammunition.
- $1.29 billion for Afghanistan Security Forces.
- $1.18 billion for military construction through September 2007.
- $552.32 million for military research, development, test and evaluation.
- $308 million for Army procurement of Up-Armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (UAHMMWVs).
- $242 million for drug interdiction and counter-drug activities.
- $211 million for Defense medical and health programs.
- $60 million available for the rapid deployment of Warlock systems and other field jamming devices.
Foreign Aid
- $907.3 million for Indian Ocean tsunami relief, including $656 million to nations affected by the December 2004 tsunami.
- $680 million for U.S. supported international peacekeeping missions initiated after the FY05 budget was completed, including $60 million for assistance to Ukraine and $50 million for emergency expenses related to the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.
- $150 million for Pakistan, $100 million for Jordan to develop military training centers for the purpose of responding to current and future security threats in the Middle East.
- $108.4 million for migration and refugee assistance.
War on Terrorism
- $1.2 billion forward War on Terror, including $748.5 million for diplomatic and consular programs and $592 million for embassy security, construction, and maintenance.
- $357.77 million for domestic counter terrorism activities, including $161.15 million for the U.S. Coast Guard, $110 million for nuclear nonproliferation, and $78.97 million for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
- $161 million additional funding for the new National Intelligence Office.
- $9.5 million for the newly established Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization that oversees reconstruction in war torn countries.
Other:
- Allows appropriated funds to be used to provide loan guarantees to construct a Fischer-Tropsch coal-to-oil project.
- Prohibits the use of funds by any Federal agency to produce a prepackaged news story without including in such story a clear notification for the audience that the story was prepared or funded by a Federal agency.
- $104.5 billion for Natural Resources Conservation Service.