Gates Estimates Another $69.7 Billion Needed in Fiscal 2009 for Wars
http://www.truthout.org/010709N
Josh Rogin, Congressional Quarterly: "Defense Secretary Robert M.
Gates has sent a $69.7 billion war cost 'estimate' to congressional
leaders and said that the outgoing administration will not formally
request more war funding before President-elect Barack Obama takes
office. The money would cover military operations related to the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with activities to battle terrorism
around the world, for the remainder of fiscal 2009, which ends Sept.
30. It is not an official request for funding and is subject to
change
pending new strategic and budgetary decisions by the incoming
administration."
"This estimate is my personal assessment and does not reflect the
position of the Bush administration or the incoming Obama
administration," Gates wrote in a Dec. 31 letter to the chairmen of
the House and Senate Armed Services committees and Appropriations
Defense subcommittees. "As such, I fully expect that the new
administration will conduct a fresh review of these matters and
provide an updated and more authoritative proposal early next year."
A proposed plan to increase U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan is
still under consideration and therefore not included in the estimate,
Gates wrote.
The total estimate is $12 billion less than the funding estimate
originally developed by Gates and communicated to leading defense
appropriators in December. If enacted without changes, it would bring
total supplemental war spending for fiscal 2009 to about $136
billion.
Congress provided $65.9 billion in fiscal 2009 war funding in the
last supplemental bill (PL 110-252). Fiscal 2008 supplemental war
spending totaled about $188 billion, according to the Congressional
Research Service.
The lack of a formal war funding estimate lessens the likelihood
such funding could be included in this month's economic stimulus
legislation, although congressional aides said that other defense-
related spending is being considered for that package.
Current war funding will last until June, giving the new
administration some time to review and alter the estimate before
submitting a formal request.
Money for Current Operations
The bulk of the funds, $53.5 billion, would go towards current
operations, including military pay, training and transportation
costs.
Within that total, $3.6 billion would go for military
intelligence
activities, $1.5 billion to counter roadside bombs, and $1.3 billion
for military construction projects at home and abroad.
The estimate also would provide for international assistance,
calling for $2.3 billion to train the Afghan Security Forces and $1.3
billion to equip them. About $1.4 billion would go to reimburse
coalition countries such as Pakistan and Jordan for their military
expenditures, and $400 million would be designated to build up
Pakistani capabilities.
Gates' estimate also calls for $7.5 billion to replace and repair
military equipment such as aircraft and ground vehicles, as well as
$600 million to procure four F-22 Raptor fighters.
Another $2 billion would be used to speed up Army and Marines
Corps plans to expand ground forces. Veterans' health and family
support programs would receive $1.7 billion more.
Appropriations panel leaders did not immediately respond to
requests for comment on the new estimate, but House Appropriations
Defense Subcommittee Chairman John P. Murtha, D-Pa., has said his
panel already is working on a fiscal 2009 supplemental war spending
bill.
Lawmakers plan to add money to give a $500 per month salary bonus
to all 185,000 soldiers who have been held past their deployment
commitments since 2001 in the Army's "stop loss" program. They also
will add unspecified funds to improve bases and housing for military
members and their families at home, Murtha said.
Nevertheless, Murtha criticized the continued use of supplemental
bills to provide war funding. Supplementals have provided most of the
$864 billion in war funding since Sept. 11, 2001, according to the
Congressional Research Service.
"The supplementals have got to go. We cannot have a sensible
appropriations [process] if we don't get rid of the supplementals,"
Murtha told an audience at the Center for American Progress Dec. 10.
Early next year, Congress will receive a new baseline defense
budget request for fiscal 2010, which will receive increased scrutiny
due to the ongoing fiscal crisis.
An internally prepared document by the Joint Chiefs of Staff pegs
the fiscal 2010 defense budget at $584 billion, an increase of about
$57 billion over previous Bush administration proposals.
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