Rumsfeld Seeks Extra Funds for War Bills ($65 billion more)

[DoYouEverWonder]

May 17, 2006

WASHINGTON -- With war bills to pay, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is calling on Congress to pass President Bush's request for an extra $65 billion to cover costs in Iraq and Afghanistan this year.

His scheduled appearance Wednesday before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee was his first public testimony on Capitol Hill since retired generals issued a series of calls for Rumsfeld to resign earlier this spring. Rumsfeld, with strong public backing by Bush, appears to have weathered that storm.

It also was Rumsfeld's first opportunity to comment on Bush's announcement Monday that he is sending 6,000 National Guard troops to the U.S. southern border to support the federal Border Patrol. The administration has not said how much it expects that to cost, nor has it set a hard time limit on the assistance.

Although the Guard troops will be operating under state governors' control, the cost will be paid by the federal government.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-rumsfeld,0,4521170.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines


This is outrageous. On top of all the money that Congress has poured into this war already, now Rummie wants even more. This new request is over a $1 billion a week! For what? For what?

[izzie]

1. The war that paid for its self? Right!!!!!

Will China go along with this

[FloridaPat]

2. Didn't they just pass a bill to fund this fiasco? * was going to veto it

because it included too much money going to other things like New Orleans

[leftchick]

3. must be the missing 2 TRILLION ran out!

or was it 3 TRILLION? :puke:

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Rumsfeld's budget for "The War" is the proverbial hole in the bottom of

the boat.

That's why Congress is considering raising the debt ceiling for the fifth or sixth time in five years from $8 trillion to $10 trillion.

Only this time, where will the money come from? Not necessary Treasury Notes and IOUs to other countries. They got wise. They see the inflation. They see that the M3 is not being reported (how much currency is in US circulation). They read the Wall Street Journal. Even the existing debt they hold is losing value on an hourly basis. How long before they sell their debt in order to preserve its value?

Raise taxes? On whom? Congress is considering making tax cuts on the rich permanent and is considering NEW tax cuts to boot. Middle class and below will pay? With what revenue? Jobs are being exported and the ones that aren't lost to attrition have their salaries diminished.

This is like one hell of a credit spree. When will Congress respond to Rumsfeld to give accurate budgetary projections and make him stick to them.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Funny, in 2003 Rummie claimed $50 billion should be enough

"Well, the Office of Management and Budget, has come up come up with a number that's something under $50 billion for the cost. How much of that would be the U.S. burden, and how much would be other countries, is an open question."


Of course, we all remember Paul Wolfowitz's ridiculous statement -

“There’s a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people…and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years…We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.


Obviously this guy has a problem with where to place the zeros and yet he's running the World Bank.

Heck of a job Rummie & Wolfie. As usual, your bill of goods was nothing but a pack of lies.

[Earth_First]

6. Remember during the 2004 debates when Kerry called bush out on 200B?

...and * dismissed it as much less than Kerry's stated figure?

Need a memory jog?

October 8, 2004

Kerry: "The goal of the sanctions was not to remove Saddam Hussein, it was to remove the weapons of mass destruction. And, Mr. President, just yesterday the Duelfer report told you and the whole world they worked. He didn't have weapons of mass destruction, Mr. President. That was the objective.

And if we'd used smart diplomacy, we could have saved $200 billion and an invasion of Iraq."

Bush: "...We're spending about $7 billion."

http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2004c.html

Current cost of Iraq: $281,360,360,947

[paparush]

7. The War that Keeps on Taking... It just keeps going, and going, and....

[babylonsister]

8. Is he still here, and if so, why? What a useless windbag. nt

[Peace Patriot]

9. All I can say is...

:wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow:

[bdamomma]

10. they are bleeding the taxpayers dry

maybe they want more money for their next war.

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theherald.co.uk%2Fnews%2F62043.html

[natrat]

11. fuck him

[Veronica.Franco]

12. Do the neo-cons think they could have picked anyone MORE incompetent? ...

Uh oh, Rummy's broke again ... Doesn't he realize how low the GOP poll numbers are? ... I thought he said 50 billion would be enough last time around? ...

[zann725]

13. Great! There goes what's left of the SS Lock Box...if anything remains.

Lready monthly SS med & drug payments are due to in
crease again. (SS med monthly premium doubled last year. New increasea of similar percentage due again soon.) That, by the way, lowers the monthly benefits at least 10-20% to most recipients.

Another Shrub broken "promise"..."no decline in benefits to those over 55" again. "Safe," he said again and again...those over 55.

And as the Lock Box is further raided...

[jayfish]

14. Isn't This Why Bush Got Out His Big'ol Veto Pen...

recently. Because congress dared to fund the war through the normal budget process while SrubCo wants to keep using these off budget funding request? If we only had a real media that would devote an hour or two a day to explaining issues like this to Americans instead of educating me about my chances of being attacked by a pack of ravenous alligators or disappearing from a cruise-ship all day long.

Jay

[rodeodance]

15. I am not sure if this the same. I think (not sure) this is addition??

[rodeodance]

16. i just answered my own question. It is the budget (and threatened veto)

......Rumsfeld was testifying on President Bush's 2007 defense budget request and the administration's request for an extra $65 billion to cover costs in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. He told the panel that the Pentagon needs the $65 billion to be made available by the end of this month in order to avoid interfering with important military projects, including the training and equipping of security forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[jayfish]

17. Right,...

they want to go outside the budget process (every time) for this money to make it look like our deficit is smaller than it really is. Congress wants these expenditures included in our budget.

Jay

[RCinBrooklyn]

18. Time to Feed the Halliburton Monster Again.

[cliss]

19. Congress could stop this war

by saying 'no'. That's all it would take. I'm frankly amazed our creditors are still lending us money to pay for this war.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

21. They're too busy laughing.

I'm frankly amazed our creditors are still lending us money to pay for this war.

[struggle4progress]

20. .

:kick: