Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate approved $468 billion for defense spending next year, including $50 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The measure passed today by a vote of 98-0, capping days of debate as Democrats used the review of the military's annual spending bill to criticize the Bush administration's conduct of the war in Iraq.

``What we have is a failure of leadership,'' said Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. ``What was hailed as our shortest war has now become one of our longest.''

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee called the debate ``a big waste of time.'' John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, agreed. ``What is their point?'' he said. ``Is it merely to score political points, or is it actually to change what is happening in the ongoing global war on terror?''

Republicans, who control the chamber, blocked Democrats' efforts to attach resolutions to set a timetable for troop withdrawals and to replace Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Still, no senator voted against an amendment to add $200 million over two years to bolster efforts to catch Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders. ``It's been five years -- 1,822 days -- since the attacks of 9-11,'' the sponsor, Democrat Kent Conrad of North Dakota, said yesterday. ``Yet Osama bin Laden remains at large and capable of attacking our country again.''

Ted Stevens, the Alaska Republican who heads the Senate's subcommittee on defense spending, said the measure was an ``irresponsible'' insult to U.S. intelligence efforts. Still, he said, election year politics argued for support and he didn't ``want to be known as voting against'' it.

The amendment passed 96-0.

$50 Bln More for War

The House passed its version of the fiscal 2007 defense appropriations bill in June and the two chambers must now reconcile differences between their measures. Both include $50 billion more for the wars.

With this addition, the cost of the Iraq war will reach at least $361 billion, Congressional Research Service estimated.

Spending overall for the global war on terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is on course to reach $502 billion with this measure, and that doesn't include an additional $50 billion in emergency funding for fiscal 2007 that the administration signaled it will request early next year, the report stated.

The annual cost ``has risen steeply since the Sept. 11 attacks primarily because of higher spending in Iraq,'' from $31 billion in fiscal 2001 and 2002 to almost $122 billion in fiscal 2006, the nonpartisan agency said in its report released yesterday.

Equipment Costs

For the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, the Senate included $2 billion to improve U.S. border security and $13.1 billion to repair or replace Army and Marine Corps equipment that is wearing out faster than expected. The House Armed Services Committee estimates that the cost for equipment damaged in Iraq could total as much as $72.3 billion through fiscal year 2011.

The House measure doesn't include the money for equipment or border security. Both chambers cut the Bush administration's overall spending request, the House by $4 billion and the Senate by $9 billion.

Both chambers' bills fund military benefits, medical programs and pay, including a 2.2 percent across-the-board pay increase. The Senate provided $126.3 billion for operations and maintenance, $99 billion for military personnel, $81 billion for weapons purchases and $73 billion for research and development.

One major difference between the chambers' bills involves Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program.

First Planes

The Senate cut the $1.2 billion requested to buy the first planes, putting purchases on hold while the program undergoes an extra year of testing. The House approved the full $5.2 billion requested -- the purchase money plus $4 billion for research.

On the Pentagon's second-most-costly program -- the Boeing Co.-Science Applications International Corp. Future Combat system of ground vehicles, radios and drones -- the Senate cut $254 million from the Army's $3.7 billion request. The House cut $326 million from the program.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 7, 2006 18:33 EDT