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US Congress approves Abbas funds US Congress approves Abbas funds
(10 minutes later)
The US Congress has authorised $60m (£30.4m) in funds to improve the state of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's security staff.The US Congress has authorised $60m (£30.4m) in funds to improve the state of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's security staff.
"We are good to go ... we have addressed Congress's concerns," a senior State Department official was quoted by news agency Reuters."We are good to go ... we have addressed Congress's concerns," a senior State Department official was quoted by news agency Reuters.
The funds could be spent on Abbas's presidential guard, security at border crossings and equipment.The funds could be spent on Abbas's presidential guard, security at border crossings and equipment.
Congress had been holding up the request from the Bush administration. Several lawmakers had held up the request from the Bush administration.
Last month, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a congressional committee $36m (£18m; 27m euros) would be cut from a proposed $86m package for Mr Abbas' National Security Forces.
The revised plan, she said, would request less money "precisely because some of the money that I would have requested I did not think I could fully account for".
Correspondents said the move was a sign of America's nervousness at the power-sharing deal between Hamas and the more moderate Fatah movement.
The US has said it will boycott members of the Palestinian government who belong to Hamas, which it regards as a terrorist group.