WASHINGTON, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Congress on Tuesday approved a 59-billion-dollar funding measure that would pay for troop increase in Afghanistan, sending it for President Barack Obama's signature.
The House of Representatives approved the measure with a 308 to 114 vote. It passed the Senate earlier. In the measure, about 33 billion is earmarked to pay for the 30,000 troops surge in Afghanistan and expenses in Iraq. Provisions not related to the war brought the bill total to nearly 59 billion.
The new funding is on top of the 130 billion Congress already approved for Afghanistan and Iraq this year. The Congress has appropriated over 1 trillion dollars for the two unpopular wars since 2001.
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| 1st Sergeant Buddy Hartlaub with the U.S. Army's 1-320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division takes aim at a suspected Taliban position at Combat Outpost Nolen in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar, Afghanistan, July 22, 2010. |
Opponents of the bill are mostly Democrats, who have stalled it for months. Over 100 of them voted against it, while Republicans supported it.
The funds were requested in February, and the Pentagon said it would run out of money for the wars by August if money was not appropriated by then.
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