LAT: Pentagon takes broader view on emergency spending($150 Billion More)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-warcosts29nov29,0,2663211.story?coll=la-home-headlines

The Pentagon is preparing an emergency spending proposal that could be larger and broader than any since the Sept. 11 attacks, covering not only the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan but extending to other military operations connected to the Bush administration's war on terrorism.

The spending plans by military commanders may push the Defense Department into a conflict with Democrats as they take control of Capitol Hill next year. Democrats had been planning to limit the emergency "supplemental" spending measures that have funded the wars in favor of the regular federal budget process, which affords greater oversight and congressional control.

Congressional and military officials have said the Pentagon is considering a request of $127 billion to $150 billion in new emergency war spending, the largest such request since the special spending measures were begun in 2001. So far, Congress has allocated $495 billion for Afghanistan, Iraq and terrorism-related efforts.

Even within the Pentagon, the spending request is generating controversy. The Pentagon was due to forward its request to the White House by about Nov. 15. But a senior Defense official said the decision had been held up and Pentagon officials had asked Army and Air Force officials to provide more justification for the spending demands.

Pentagon officials would not comment on the budget figures, due to be made public in February.

[Newsjock]

1. "Other military operations"?

Other military operations!?!?

[Target_For_Exterm]

2. Iran?

[Theduckno2]

3. Could it be that the Pentagon may be expecting a troop drawdown ?

It would seem to me that if there is a sizable drawdown in the cards, there would be an ensuing period of financial austerity for the Pentagon.

It might be apparent to many at the Pentagon that the time to request funding is now while there still are sizable forces deployed in areas of conflict.

It might then follow that there might be squabbling over their respective slices of an ever shrinking cake.

My other concern is that certain costs of the War in Iraq were defrayed in the attempt to maintain public support levels for an increasingly expensive war. Yes, ordering another round of dessert may delay the check but the bill will still come due.

[Lexingtonian]

4. if they're going to play this dirty, the right thing to do

is publicly tell them they'll get zeroed for that. Yes, totally defunded.

[Heidi]

5. Kick.

:kick:

[Robbien]

6. Pentagon seeks $150B emergency funding (budget memo guideline: Let her rip--Anything goes)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- The Pentagon is preparing to ask the new Democratic Congress for as much as $150 billion in emergency war spending, the Los Angeles Times said Wednesday.

The request for supplemental funding is the largest ever since they began after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and has soared since an Oct. 25 memo from Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England in which he said the military services could include costs associated with operations that are part of the larger war on terrorism.

<snip>

Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Morshe Araujo said service has requested about $33 billion in supplemental funding, up from $17.4 billion before the England memo.

"The England memo basically said, 'Let her rip,'" said Winslow Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project and a former congressional budget aide. "Anything goes, as long as you can put it under the pretext of not only Iraq or Afghanistan, but the global war on terror."

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20061129-090238-6812r

[underpants]

7. Sounds political-they ask for a HUGE amount and if the Dems cut it down

they don't support the troops.

Their whole operation is nothing but political posturing, why would we expect this to change?

[rman]

8. Dems should start an emergency investigation to find out what happened

to the trillions that went missing at the Pentagon.

[mr1956]

9. Dems should scrutinize where the money is going

Congressional Democrats should take this opportunity to prove they are the party of fiscal responsibility. Rather than accept or reject this request wholesale, I would get a real detail oriented OCD type to check and report where the money is actually going.

[saigon68]

10. Joementum Limpmannn won't do Squat except vote the $$$$$

[Allyoop]

11. Pentagon Budget

Tie it to Bush's tax cuts. Rescind the cuts to millionaires - I'm sure they're patriotic enough to forgo their tax breaks in order to support the troops! Yeah, right.