Bye-bye, Fiscal Conservatism!

AP: GOP Approves $29B More in Katrina Aid---

WASHINGTON - Congressional Republicans agreed Saturday on $29 billion in additional aid for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the other powerful storms that lashed the United States earlier this year, far more than the Bush administration proposed earlier this fall.

"We have a good agreement," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who has patrolled the Capitol for days in an effort to coax as much money as possible from lawmakers eager to adjourn for the year.

Officials stressed the additional funds would not add to federal deficits, a priority for conservative lawmakers. They said the hurricane relief as well as an additional $3.8 billion to help prepare for an outbreak of avian flu would be offset, in part by a 1 percent cut across a wide swath of federal programs.

The cut would affect programs for domestic programs as well as defense and homeland security, according Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Federal support for veterans, whose ranks are swelling as the result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, would not be affected, he said.