US President George W. Bush signed Wednesday a 555 billion dollar catch-all budget bill for 2008 that includes 70 billion dollars for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars without any timeline for troop withdrawal.
Bush signed the omnibus bill aboard Air Force One while flying to his Texas ranch for an end-of-the-year holiday, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said aboard the aircraft.
The president had threatened the Democratic-controlled Congress with a veto for the bill if it was much more than Bush had asked or if it contained targets for a troop pullout from Iraq. Stanzel said the bill funds the government responsibly without raising taxes.
"It provides a down-payment for our troops who are in harm's way without arbitrary withdrawal timelines," he said. But he criticised the hundreds of "earmarks" - specific spending allocations for projects and programs favoured by specific members of Congress, often for their home states and districts - included in the omnibus bill. "We continue to be disappointed with Congress's addiction to earmarks," Stanzel said.
He said that Bush signed another 15 bills while aboard the plane, including a temporary adjustment to the alternative minimum tax that will prevent a sharp increase in income taxes to millions of middle-class Americans.