Thursday, April 9, 2009

Wire: Obama to Seek $83.4 Billion Supplemental War Funding

Off the Wire

Off the Wire:

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2009 -- Newswires reported late this afternoon that President Barack Obama is seeking $83.4 billion for U.S. military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, pressing for special troop funding that he opposed two years ago when he was senator and George W. Bush was president.

The Associated Press reported that Obama's request, including money to send thousands more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, would push the costs of the two wars to almost $1 trillion since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The additional funds would cover operations into the fall, AP noted.

Obama is also requesting $400 million to upgrade security along the U.S.-Mexico border and to combat narco-terrorists.

AP also reported that White House press secretary Robert Gibbs acknowledged that Obama has been highly critical of Bush's use of similar special legislation to pay for the wars.

The outlines of the request were provided in documents presented at a closed-door congressional briefing, AP reported.

According to the documents, which were obtained by AP, the request would fund an average force level in Iraq of 140,000 U.S. troops. It would also finance Obama's initiative to boost troop levels in Afghanistan to more than 60,000 from the current 39,000. And it would provide $2.2 billion to accelerate the Pentagon's plans to increase the overall size of the U.S. military, including a 547,400-person active-duty Army.

This is a developing story.

(Report from newswire sources.)

Source: Obama to seek $83.4 billion for Iraq, Afghan wars

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3 Comments:

Anonymous MoJo said...

I thought Obama made a campaign promise not to do this kind of thing?

I thought Obama said all of this war spending would be rolled into the Pentagon's budget?

What a bullshitter that Obama is. You just can't trust the man.

6:13 PM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Major war-funding legislation while Barack Obama was in the Senate, and how he voted:

_May 2005: Congress approved an $82 billion bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and international anti-terrorism efforts. Obama voted yes.

_June 2006: Congress cleared a $94.5 billion bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as provide aid to hurricane victims. Obama voted yes.

_September 2006: Congress cleared a $448 billion Pentagon funding bill that included $70 billion for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama voted yes.

_April 2007: Congress cleared a $124 billion spending bill that provided $90 billion for war costs but mandated the withdrawal of U.S. troops within six months. Obama voted yes, but President George W. Bush vetoed the legislation.

_May 2007: Congress approved a roughly $100 billion spending measure to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and domestic projects, including hurricane relief. Obama voted no.

_December 2007: Congress cleared a $555 billion catchall spending bill that included $70 billion for U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama did not vote.

_June 2008: Congress approved a measure to spend $162 billion for war costs as well as provide a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits and emergency relief for the flood-ravaged Midwest. Obama voted yes.

8:11 PM EDT  
Blogger ♥♥♥♥♥ Jennifer™® ♥♥♥♥♥ said...

your blog is so good

12:23 AM EDT  

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