House Democrats Would Add $50 Billion in Domestic Spending To War Legislation

House Democrats want to attach to a war spending bill a host of domestic spending provisions that would cost more than the war funding alone.

House Democrats want to add about $50 billion in additional domestic spending to legislation funding the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, which already bankrolls some domestic programs.

According to a draft bill obtained by The Hill, Democrats are mulling a package of education, jobs and energy programs to be added to the war measure. The Senate version of the bill, which doesn't have those provisions, costs $58.8 billion and includes the war funding, foreign aid, domestic disaster aid and compensation for veterans.

The additional domestic funding includes a $23 billion fund to help state and local governments stave off teacher cutbacks, $1.2 billion to prevent police layoffs and $500 million to retain state and local firefighters. The Obama administration has called on lawmakers to pass those items along with the war spending, arguing they could save up to 300,000 jobs.

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