Congress approves $50 billion more for wars

[Balta1701]

Wow, this one is so amazingly sneaky I'm quite surprised I even caught it. They literally buried it.

 

Earlier in the Iraq debacle, the funds for the war were appropriated exclusively in the form of supplemental appropriations that Congress passed. This was useful politically, in that it allowed the government to claim reduced figures for the true budget deficit during the year (since the supplementals weren't part of the normal budgeting process), and they also gave Bush the occasional "I voted for the bill before I voted against it" from Kerry, which we all know played perfectly into Rove's hand.

 

Now it seems that the Republicans have decided things are going so bad in Iraq, they don't want to risk the public scrutiny that comes with a separate appropriation for Iraq and Afghanistan. They're quite literally burying another $50 billion supplemental into a normal defense spending bill.

 

The Senate would give President Bush $50 billion more for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of a $440 billion defense spending measure a panel approved Monday.

 

Reflecting a post-Hurricane Katrina debate about the role of the military in domestic affairs, the bill also will require that the National Guard provide a report on how Guard units in neighboring states can be used to assist those affected by natural disasters.

 

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, the chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, said lawmakers and staff members were still working on the language, which will be added when the full Appropriations Committee takes up the measure.

 

"What we are looking at is when the National Guard should be triggered to come into a state to assist," Stevens said. "We aren't going to mandate it. We are going to ask for a report as to how it should be done and figure out if it is possible to develop a plan for that."

 

The House already has approved $45 billion more for the wars as part of its $409 billion version of the bill providing money for the Defense Department for the budget year that begins Oct. 1.

 

Both the Senate and House versions provide for a 3.1 percent pay raise for the military, but the bills differ in other areas. The conflicts must be sorted out before Congress sends the final bill to the president for his signature.

 

Overall, Congress already has given the president about $350 billion for combat and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan and fighting terrorism worldwide since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to the Congressional Research Service, which writes reports for lawmakers. That total includes $82 billion that lawmakers approved in May.

 

The Bush administration has not yet asked for more war money, but lawmakers are reluctant to wait for a formal request. Costs are certain given that there's no end in sight to involvement in Iraq or Afghanistan.

This $50 billion would push the total amount appropriated by Congress for the wars to over $400 billion since the invasion of Iraq started.

[kapkomet]

I'n not so sure what's so sneaky about it, it's been reported all day on the news, starting this morning.

[southsider2k5]

I'n not so sure what's so sneaky about it, it's been reported all day on the news, starting this morning.

 

That's what I was trying to figure out as well. They are interviewing Senators about it, its obviously out there, and IMO it is a lot more up front to actually put the budget for the war in with the defense appropriations bill than to act like it didn't exsist in the budget and get a special appropriation for it later. If they know it is coming, why wouldn't you just budget for it in the first place?