Barack Obama seeks $65 billion in war funds [View all]

[Jesus Malverde]

President Barack Obama asked Congress on Thursday for more than $65 billion to support the war in Afghanistan and global security programs, but key members of Congress say they won’t rubber-stamp the request and are frustrated at having been kept out of its preparations.

The president sent lawmakers a series of budget amendments requesting $58.6 billion for the Pentagon — well short of a nearly $80 billion “placeholder” submitted with its regular budget earlier this year — and $7.3 billion for the State Department.

That total includes new requests to support European security over the short term and a new counter-terrorism fund that Obama says is necessary to help combat terrorists across the Middle East and Africa.

Part of the new fund would go toward directly supporting rebel groups fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, handing Congress the political hot potato of determining whether to support arming and training the rebels.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/barack-obama-afghanistan-war-108364.html?hp=l5