Military housing decision delayed

WASHINGTON – The Senate overwhelmingly passed a military construction spending bill Monday that put aside for another day the politically sensitive problem of how to sustain a program to improve military family housing during wartime.

The $10 billion bill for the 2005 budget year, approved 91-0, contains no new money for a Pentagon program that provides for private industry construction of military family housing.

Outside that program, the bill includes $4.1 billion for family housing construction and maintenance, up $344 million from the 2004 level.

In a 212-211 procedural vote last July, the House effectively removed a $500 million expansion of the private housing program from its version of the military construction bill.

It was a tough vote for House Republicans, who opted to show their dedication to spending restraint. Democrats said it was cynical to rein in spending at the expense of troops during wartime.