Clashes on Syria, spying mark debate on U.S. defense funding bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers clashed over Syria, Afghanistan and government spying on Tuesday as the House of Representatives began debating a $598 billion (389 billion pounds) defense spending bill for 2014, including a Pentagon base budget of $512 billion and $86 billion for the Afghan war.

The confrontations began even before the measure made it to the floor of the House after Republican leaders moved to restrict the number of permitted amendments to 100, with no more than 20 minutes of debate on divisive issues like Syria policy and spying by the National Security Agency.