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Pentagon may seek $100 billion

Liz Sidoti Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is in the early stages of drafting a wartime request for up to $100 billion more for Iraq and Afghanistan, lawmakers say, a figure that would push spending related to the wars toward a staggering half-trillion dollars.

Reps. Bill Young, R-Fla., the chairman of the House appropriations defense panel, and John Murtha, D-Pa., the senior Democrat on that subcommittee, say the military has informally told them it wants $80 billion to $100 billion in a war-spending package that the White House is expected to send Congress next year.

That would be in addition to $50 billion Congress is about to give the Pentagon before lawmakers adjourn for the year for operations in Iraq for the beginning of 2006. Military commanders expect that pot to last through May.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Congress has approved more than $300 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, including military operations, reconstruction, embassy security and foreign aid, as well as other costs related to the war on terrorism, according to the Congressional Research Service, which writes reports for Congress.

Asked about the upcoming spending package, Young offered the $80 billion to $100 billion range. “That’s what I’m told,” he said.

Murtha mentioned the $100 billion figure last week to reporters, saying “Twenty years it’s going to take to settle this thing. The American people are not going to put up with it, can’t afford it.”

The service branches recently presented their individual requests for future funding to top Pentagon officials.

“They were very ambitious,” said Loren Thompson, a military analyst with the Lexington Institute, a Washington-based think tank, who has close ties to the Pentagon.

The Pentagon still must write a final proposal and the White House still has to sign off on the plan, which President Bush is expected to send Congress next year. That means the request ultimately could differ from what lawmakers, congressional aides and military analysts are told the services are seeking.