US lawmakers advance annual Pentagon budget without large sums for Iraq and Afghanistan

House of Representatives and Senate negotiators agreed Tuesday on a $460 billion (euro316.2 billion) Defense Department bill that bankrolls pricey weapons systems and bomb-resistant vehicles for troops, but has little for Iraq and Afghanistan.

Democrats said they would not leave troops in the lurch, but were reluctant to say when Congress might consider President George W. Bush's $196 billion (euro134.7 billion) request to pay expressly for combat operations.

The nearly half-trillion dollar bill covers the 2008 budget year, which began Oct. 1.

Republicans supported the spending measure, but said the lack of war money would cause a tremendous …