Bryan one of 13 Democrats to oppose Kosovo spending bill

Friday, May 21, 1999 | 5:08 a.m.

Bryan was one of only 13 Democrats who voted Thursday against the $15 billion supplemental spending bill that includes money for the war in Kosovo and disaster relief at home and abroad.

"This bill is loaded down just too many excessive and unnecessary special interest projects," Bryan said.

'I just could not vote, in good conscience, for this budget monstrosity," he said.

The Senate sent the measure to President Clinton Thursday on a vote of 64-35. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate minority whip, voted in favor of the bill.

Bryan said billions of dollars of emergency spending in the bill is urgently needed, including the current Kosovo campaign and assistance to victims of Hurricane Mitch.

But he said the $900 million targeted for victims of tornadoes in Oklahoma and Kansas is "almost three times what was specifically requested by the experts who are on the ground at the disaster site."

He took aim at a series of projects he said were the result of old-fashioned pork-barrel politics:

- $3.7 million for a dormitory for House pages

- $6.5 million for sewer projects across the country

- $1.3 million for a World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle

- $600,000 for congressional leadership offices

"This is precisely the sort of irresponsible spending by Congress that produced our suffocating deficits and has undermined the confidence of the American people in our ability to exercise fiscal responsibility and repair the long-term health of Social Security and Medicare," Bryan said.

"Unfortunately, this budget monstrosity represents a return to business as usual."