War costs irk Congress

More than four years into the war on terror, Congress is chafing - but not yet balking - at a tab nearing $400 billion.

President Bush's latest emergency spending request, sent to Capitol Hill last week, includes $72.4 billion for the global war on terror. He also asked for another $19.8 billion for hurricane relief at home.

Few lawmakers care to risk not supporting US troops or first responders, making these must-pass bills. As such, they're attracting add-ons that lawmakers deem "emergencies."

But unlike the previous five defense supplemental bills, No. 6 comes at the start of what lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling a make-or-break year for US engagement in Iraq.

"Until the United States succeeds in helping the Iraqis build strong, new political and military institutions, a massive commitment of external military forces and economic assistance will continue to be necessary to forestall a civil war," writes Kenneth Pollack and the Iraq Policy Working Group at the Brookings Institution, in a paper widely circulating on Capitol Hill.

While Congress won't take up this request until early March, hearings on FY 2007 spending last week signaled the intensity and range of issues to come in a broad debate on the war. "I think that we're inciting terrorism," said Rep. John Murtha (D) of Pennsylvania, the ranking Democrat on the Defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, in a hearing on the Defense Department's FY 2007 budget request.

Some lawmakers are already grumbling that war costs should be part of the president's annual budget request, $2.8 trillion for FY 2007, and not tacked on as "emergency spending."

"We could do it either way," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the House panel. "By doing it in the supplemental, frankly, which I personally prefer - we can have much better information for you because it's prepared at a later date," he said.

Mr. Bush is asking for $65.3 billion for the Department of Defense to cover operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, repair and replace equipment, and train Iraqi and Afghan security forces; $4.2 billion for the Department of State and other international operations; and $2.9 billion for the intelligence community. That includes $10.9 billion to replace and upgrade damaged equipment, such as body armor; $9.6 billion for personnel costs, including bonuses and incentive pay; $3.7 billion to train and equip Iraqi security forces; $2.2 billion for Afghan forces; and $1.9 billion to improve detection of roadside bombs.

In his FY 2007 budget request, Bush includes an additional $50 billion as a "bridge fund" for war costs after Oct. 1. "I think we would expect that sometime this spring, we'll come forward to the Congress and propose an allocation of that $50 billion allowance that we included in the 2007 budget, but I don't have a date on that," said Joel Kaplan, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, in a White House conference call on Thursday.

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