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Wednesday, August 29, 2007
New War Funding Request Just More Budget Shenanigans
From the Washington Post article reporting that President Bush will ask Congress for an additional $50 billion to continue escalation in Iraq:
Most of the additional funding in a revised supplemental bill would pay for the current counteroffensive in Iraq, which has expanded the U.S. force there by about 28,000 troops, to about 160,000. The cost of the buildup was not included in the proposed 2008 budget because Pentagon officials said they did not know how long the troop increase would last. The decision to seek about $50 billion more appears to reflect the view in the administration that the counteroffensive will last into the spring of 2008 and will not be shortened by Congress.
In January when the "surge" was announced, the background briefing for the press was thin on funding details, but here they are:
Q Is there a specific request for additional funding from Congress in the speech?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No. But there are -- I think we've briefed you a little bit -- there will be in the supplemental the incremental funding necessary. That will be $5.6 on the military side...
And then a few minutes later:
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The military piece is $5.6 billion.
Q I thought that was just the down payment that's going to be in the supplemental.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, that's in the supplemental...you're asking a question that anticipates my knowing exactly when everything is over. I don't.
It's unclear to which supplemental the official is referring. Recall that in the president's budget request, which he submitted in February, he included two war spending provisions - two supplementals. He requested $93.4 billion for FY 2007 and $141.7 billion for FY 2008. Assuming the senior adminstration official meant that $5.6 billion would pay for the escalation in FY 2007, then, at the time of this announcement, a four-month (June through September), 21,500 troop escalation would cost $5.6 billion. Now, however, according to the Washington Post article, it will cost $50 billion to maintain those 21,500 troops for eight months (October through May).
Between January, when the escalation was announced, and August, the cost of an additional 21,500 troops increased five fold. Riiiight. I'm not buyin' what Bush is sellin' because it stinks.
Look, $50 billion is more than a third of Bush's funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for all of FY 2008. And we're supposed to believe that the military needs that much to sustain a 15% force increase for eight months? That's insane. A more reasonable explanation is that a $300 billion war funding request in February would have been a bit much for the new Congress - and the American people - to swallow. And since Congress easily approved about $100 billion in May, the President figures another $50 billion is within easy reach.
Posted by Craig Jennings
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