Bush signs bills for better military housing, land conservation

WASHINGTON -- President Bush signed a pair of spending bills Monday that will pay for land conservation and military housing improvements.

Though the measures surpassed his original spending requests by a total of more than $1.5 billion, Bush praised lawmakers for working to hold overall spending to the limit of $686 billion that was agreed upon several weeks ago.

The land bill will finance the government's acquisition and maintenance of land in national parks, forests and wildlife refuges; help the National Park Service reduce a growing maintenance backlog; help build and maintain Indian schools; pay for energy research and conservation programs; and finance firefighting budgets.

Bush also signed a compromise $10.5 billion measure financing military construction projects. The bill, popular among lawmakers because of the funds it has for virtually every state, would provide nearly $1.6 billion more than last year and $529 million more than Bush requested.