Reuters: "FACTBOX: Bush wants more war funds" (189.3 billion)

[Amerigo Vespucci]

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2246733720071022

(Reuters) - President George W. Bush asked Congress for $189.3 billion on Monday to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for another year.

For comparison, here are the amounts the government has spent on other programs, along with the estimated costs of plans put forward recently.

-- The U.S. government allocated $45.3 billion in supplemental funding to help victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Insurance companies are estimated to have paid another $45 billion in damages related to Katrina.

-- The United States is building a fence along its border with Mexico in an effort to halt illegal immigration. The government has not offered detailed cost projections, but estimates have ranged from $2.2 billion for construction alone to $49 billion for construction and maintenance for 25 years.

-- Bush recently vetoed a bill to expand a popular health care program for low-income children that would have cost $40 billion over 10 years, an average of $4 billion per year.

-- Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Democrat front-runner for the 2008 presidential nomination, recently proposed a health plan that would require all Americans to have insurance. The cost was estimated at $110 billion per year.