Jun 30, 12:27 PM EDT


Highlights of war funding, GI benefits bill




Highlights of war funding, GI benefits bill


Bush signs $162 billion war spending bill
Highlights of war funding, GI benefits bill



Highlights of the bill President Bush signed Monday for funding U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, extending unemployment benefits, boosting GI Bill college benefits and providing flood aid to the Midwest:



WAR FUNDING - $162 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, enough to fund the war into next year.

GI BILL - $63 billion over 10 years for increased college aid for military service members and veterans who served after Sept. 11, 2001. The value of the benefit is more than doubled -from $40,000 to $90,000, enough to cover a full four-year college education in most cases. The new benefit would provide full in-state tuition and fees for enrollment in a public college, a monthly housing stipend and $1,000 per year for books and supplies. People who serve three years would receive the full benefit; those with shorter enlistments would receive between 40 percent and 90 percent of the benefit. The benefits could be transferred to a service member's spouse or children.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE - $12.5 billion over two years to provide 13 additional weeks of unemployment benefits for people whose 26-week benefits have run out. People must have worked 20 weeks to be eligible. Those weekly benefit checks average $299.14 nationwide. Up to 4 million jobless workers could be eligible for the extension. Ten-year cost: $8.2 billion.

FLOOD AID - $2.7 billion to replenish various disaster aid accounts in the aftermath of widespread flooding in the Midwest.

MEDICAID RULES - Blocks six of seven new Medicaid regulations sought by the Bush administration to curb program costs and combat waste and abuse. The new regulations would have reduced federal spending on health care for the poor by more than $10 billion over the next five years and were widely opposed by governors.

OTHER SPENDING - $10.1 billion for various foreign aid programs, including $1.9 billion for international food aid and $465 million for Mexico to combat drug trafficking; $5.8 billion for Louisiana levee repairs and construction; $4.6 billion for military base construction; $400 million for "competitiveness" programs, energy research and medical research; and $210 million to address cost overruns involving the 2010 census.


___________________________________________
End of Associated Press Release