U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday thanked the U.S. Congress for sending him the billion dollar war funding supplemental, which he is set to sign today. Speaking at the Oval Office in the White House, Bush said that the $162 billion supplemental would provide much needed funding for U.S. troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush's signing came after the U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to approve the supplemental, but only with a provision that would delay for one year six new Medicaid regulations proposed by the Bush administration. The House of Representatives passed the same legislation on June 19. The Congressionally-approved bill includes an increase in education benefits for U.S. war veterans. It also provides a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits and $2.7 billion in emergency flood relief for the Midwest. The spending bill will bring to more than $650 billion the amount Congress has provided for the Iraq war since the United States led the invasion into the country five years ago. For operations in Afghanistan, the total is nearly $200 billion, according to congressional officials.
