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WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued “The Bush Administration
Misstatement of the Day” on the cost of war in Iraq.
According
to news reports today, the Bush administration “will ask Congress for
an additional $25 billion for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan,
Republican congressional aides said Wednesday, a change from the White
House's earlier plans to not request such money until after the November
elections…” (AP, 5/5/04)
However,
“White House budget director Joshua Bolten said earlier this year that
the administration will eventually need more money beyond the $87 billion
Congress authorized for this budget year, which ends Sept. 30. But
Bolten said the administration would not request it this year, meaning
such a multibillion-dollar appeal would come after the November election.”
(AP, 4/21/04)
Prior
to the war in Iraq and during the early months of the conflict, Bush Administration
officials refused to acknowledge that the war and reconstruction efforts
would cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
Read
Past Quotes on the Cost of War from Administration Officials
Official:
Bush to Seek $25B for Iraq War
By
ALAN FRAM
Associated
Press Writer
5
May 2004
07:15
pm GMT
WASHINGTON
(AP) - The Bush administration will ask Congress for an additional $25
billion for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Republican congressional
aides said Wednesday, a change from the White House's earlier plans to
not request such money until after the November elections.
White
House budget chief Joshua Bolten and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz
journeyed to the Capitol on Wednesday to present the proposal to House
Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.,
and other top Republicans.
The
request comes amid an intensified Iraqi insurrection that has inflicted
steady casualties on Americans and forced the Pentagon to plan on keeping
more troops in the country next year than the administration had previously
planned.
It
also comes with the Bush administration and the military facing widespread
criticism at home and abroad for the abuse of Iraqi war prisoners, including
investigations into the deaths of 14 of the detainees.
The
$25 billion request is for the federal budget year that begins next Oct.
1, the aides said. In recent weeks, administration officials have raised
the possibility that they also will need extra money for the final weeks
of this fiscal year as well, with many members of Congress saying they
believe billions will be needed.
Last
February, President Bush's budget omitted any funds for U.S. military and
reconstruction activities in Iraq and Afghanistan next year. Bolten said
at the time that the administration's 2005 request for Iraq could be up
to $50 billion.
It
seemed likely that the $25 billion proposal to be discussed on Wednesday
would be only the first portion of funds that will be needed for next year.
One
camp in the White House has been agitating for weeks for a supplemental
budget request, on two grounds. These officials have argued that neither
Democrats nor Republicans in Congress would block such funds if the military
made plain the money was needed for the troops; and that it was better
to have a long fight over the money sooner, rather than later in the year
-- and closer to the election.
Congress
and Bush enacted an $87.5 billion package last November for this year's
U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In April 2003, a $79.5 billion
measure was approved for that year's activities. |
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