Shedding remnants of post Sept. 11 bipartisanship, Senate Republicans and Democrats were set to battle on Thursday over a $353 billion package to fund the military and anti-terrorism efforts that is $15 billion more than President George W. Bush says he will accept. Despite Bush's threat to veto the huge wartime package, Democrats who hold a slim Senate majority said they would push to add money for homeland security and aid to hard-hit New York City that Bush said he does not need until next year.
Republicans will try to block the Democrats' package with procedural maneuvers and push their own trimmed-down alternative, which is similar to a package cleared by the Republican-led House of Representatives last week.
Both sides are pointing fingers, accusing each other of political gamesmanship that could stall hundreds of billions of dollars for the military as it conducts its campaign against Saudi militant Osama bin Laden, Washington's prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that killed more than 3,600 people. Bureau Report