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Aid For Pakistan

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Defense Secretary Robert Gates last month pressed Congress to complete the war funding bill by May 25 or his department could run out of aid for Pakistan this month and potentially run out of other funds for some military operations by July.

Congress will miss that deadline because the House and Senate must still work out their differences and lawmakers are due to leave Friday for a weeklong break for the Memorial Day holiday.

"We've checked with the Pentagon and they're satisfied that if we finish this when we get back there will be adequate time to fund everything that our troops need," said Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Key differences include the provisions for the IMF. The House left out the funding entirely and House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey has expressed strong reservations about including it.

"I am very, very reluctant to support any additional funding for the IMF... so long as the Europeans continue to be as modest as they are in terms of their actions on the stimulus front," Obey said during a hearing.

The Senate rejected an attempt by some Republicans to strip the provisions for the IMF money and support for the gold sale. But they agree to an amendment for consultations and reports to Congress about the IMF.

The House and Senate also differed on how much economic aid to give Pakistan. They both provide $400 million to help train Pakistan's counterinsurgency forces as they try to battle militant Taliban fighters spilling over its border with Afghanistan. But the Senate offered Pakistan $500 million in economic aid while the House offered almost $600 million. The House added $3.1 billion for the Pentagon to buy eight Boeing Co C-17 military transport aircraft and 11 Lockheed Martin C-130 transport planes, but the Senate did not.

Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison initially tried to push an amendment aimed at giving some 789 Chrysler dealerships that are being closed more time to unload their inventories. She dropped her effort after the bankrupt automaker pledged to help those dealers beyond a June 9 deadline it had imposed.

Senators also agreed to include a provision that would block the release of photographs of detainee abuses under the Freedom of Information Act. The American Civil Liberties Union has spent years suing the government for the release of the pictures.

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