Senate set to approve Obama war funding request…
President Barack Obama is likely to get a sweeping bipartisan endorsement when the Senate votes on his request for continuing military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The $91.3 billion measure being taken up by the Senate on Thursday closely tracks Obama’s request for war funds, although the $80 million he was seeking to close the U.S. naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was dropped Wednesday.
A vote to limit debate was scheduled for Thursday. It was expected to succeed easily and pave the way for a final vote later in the day. A final House-Senate compromise is likely when Congress returns in June from a weeklong Memorial Day recess.
Senate debate has featured none of the angst over the situation in Afghanistan that permeated debate in the House last week on companion legislation. Obama is sending more than 20,000 thousand additional troops there and, for the first time next year, the annual cost of the war in Afghanistan is projected to exceed the cost of fighting in Iraq.
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