DoD budget barely adequate, House panel says

[unhappycamper]

DoD budget barely adequate, House panel says
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 29, 2008 15:05:37 EST

House Armed Services Committee leaders have declared that the Bush administration’s total 2009 defense budget request of $611.1 billion is the “minimum” needed for national security.

In a Feb. 27 letter to the House Budget Committee, the Democratic chairman and senior Republican on the committee said the $541.1 billion “base” defense budget doesn’t pay for everything the services need, and a projected $70 billion in supplemental spending on operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and other contingencies does not come close to providing enough for a year of combat operations.

The $70 billion in supplemental funding is a down payment on war-related costs. The letter says it expects the ultimate request for funds “will be substantial.”

The $541.1 billion budget request includes $16 billion for Department of Energy nuclear weapons research, $4.3 billion in mandatory spending for things such as military retired pay and buying items for the defense stockpile, and $5.2 billion for defense-related items that do not come under the jurisdiction of the armed services committee.

The letter signed by Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., the committee’s chairman, and Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., its senior republican, does not specifically ask for more money in the base budget. Instead, it talks of the need to provide more “over time.”


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_house_budget_022908w/



uhc comment: Maybe Rick should talk to William. The number for the 2009 budget is $735,700,000,000.