Bush requests more war, hurricane emergency money
By Vicki Allen and Richard Cowan
Reuters
Thursday, February 16, 2006; 7:55 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush asked Congress on Thursday for $72.4 billion in emergency funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as the pace of spending on the conflicts increased.
Bush also sought $19.8 billion for the hurricane-battered U.S. Gulf Coast, which would push relief after Hurricane Katrina to some $90 billion.
"This request provides the resources necessary ... so the Coalition can continue to hand over control of more territory to Iraqi forces," Bush said of the war funding request.
The Pentagon would get $65.3 billion to finance the wars, while additional funds for Iraq and Afghanistan aid and operations would go through the State Department and $2.9 billion would go to intelligence operations.
Bush also sought money for aid for the humanitarian crisis in Sudan's Darfur region, earthquake relief in Pakistan, promoting democracy in Iran and other uses overseas.
With this package and the $50 billion the White House said it will seek for early next fiscal year starting on October 1, the wars' costs will pass $440 billion, and likely will approach $500 billion by the end of next year, mostly for Iraq.
The cost for the wars this year will be about $111 billion, up from about $100 billion last year, White House and Pentagon officials said in a conference call with reporters.
Iraq operations are costing an average of $5.9 billion per month, and Afghanistan an average of $900 million, they said, attributing the higher costs partly to higher fuel prices.
