US Cong approves $106 bn for war, swine flu

Congress gave final approval to a $106 billion emergency bill to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, shore up efforts to fight swine flu, and fund US participation in the IMF.     

By a vote of 226 to 202, lawmakers in the US House of Representatives approved a compromise version of legislation, to reconcile differing House and Senate versions.     

Among other budget items, the measure provides $79.9 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 7.7 billion dollars to combat the A(H1N1) flu virus, and $8 billion for the International Monetary Fund.     

House Democrat David Obey, a key figure during negotiations on the spending measure talks in that chamber, acknowledged some resistance among lawmakers to the IMF funding, but said the monies were necessary to bolster a still-sagging global economy.     

"You know, this is a tough reality. We have to participate in the world, and when the world economy becomes shaky, we have a responsibility to ourselves to try to stabilise that world economic situation," he said.     

The supplemental spending measure was bogged down after the Senate legislation over the objections of Democrats in the House banned public release of the controversial images allegedly showing abuse of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hands of US military personnel.