Several billion dollars for construction programs and an industry-backed tax break hinge on the outcome of a battle between President Bush and congressional Democrats over the Iraq war. The center of the storm is a $124.2-billion spending bill on which House and Senate negotiators reached agreement on April 23. Three-fourths of the funds are for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the bill also has up to $9 billion for construction plus a depreciation tax incentive. There’s bipartisan support for the defense money and at least some of the construction dollars. But Bush says he will veto the measure because of provisions setting a timetable for starting to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.
Construction is “not the target of the attack here,” says Jeffrey Shoaf, Associated General Contractors’ senior executive director for government and public affairs. “The big fight’s over the war and how best to handle it.” If both houses pass the measure and Bush vetoes it, Democrats probably won’t get the two-thirds majorities needed for an override. The next step after that isn’t clear, although a short-term stopgap is possible.