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House passes 3.9 percent pay raise

WASHINGTON — The House has passed and sent to the Senate a major military bill that includes a pay raise for soldiers and money for the Iraq war.

Quick Senate passage and President Bush’s expected signature, are designed to protect lawmakers from election season charges that they do not support the troops. The $612 billion bill permits the Pentagon to give military personnel a 3.9 percent pay raise.

To win Bush’s signature instead of a veto, Congress dropped a ban on private interrogators at detention facilities and what amounted to congressional veto power over a security pact with Iraq.

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3.9 percent raise clears Capitol Hill roadblock