Pennsylvania Democrat Jack Murtha died at 77.

By Yann Marshall

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Democrat Congressman John Murtha, of Pennsylvania an influential and controversial force in congressional spending on defence, died Monday at 1:18 pm; he was 77.

He died at Virginia Hospital Centre in Arlington in Virginia, surrounded by his family members, his office stated. He had been hospitalized for more than a week with problems from gallbladder surgery.

Murtha former Marine and Vietnam War veteran reigned for two decades as the senior Democrat on the House appropriations board with responsibility for funding the military; he served as its chairman in the early 1990s, and again in 2007 when Democrats regained charge of the House.

He came out as strong figure in House debates over the Iraq war, which he grew to strongly oppose; however he also used his settle on as chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defence to secure additional funding for military kit, at times uneasy calls from some liberal Democrats to stop all war expenditure.

Survivors include his wife Joyce Murtha; his daughter Donna Murtha; his sons Patrick and John and three grandchildren; find more detailed biography of Mr. Murtha on Wikipedia; funeral updates will be available here.

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