Meanwhile Senate Okays $70B for Iraq and Afghan War Funds

[Jcrowley]

$70B OK'd for Iraq and Afghan war funds
By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 21, 8:00 PM ET

WASHINGTON - House-Senate negotiators Thursday approved a new $70 billion infusion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as they wrapped up talks on a $447 billion Pentagon funding bill.

The additional war funds would bring the total approved by Congress for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001, to more than $500 billion, with another installment likely to come next spring.

At the same time, the White House beat back an attempt by Republicans on the appropriations committees to take an additional $2 billion from defense programs to ease cuts to domestic programs such as education and grants to local governments.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060922/ap_on_go_co/congress_defense

[Hubert Flottz]

1. K&R

Tax and spend Republicans run congress, so what else could one expect!

[nam78_two]

2. kicked and recommended

[Jcrowley]

3. Small point

The federal government is the largest single user of energy inside the United States, and the Department of Defense (DOD) is the largest user within the federal government, accounting for 70% of the government’s total. Accordingly, DOD is a likely source of emissions reductions if the Administration is to achieve the level to which it agreed at Kyoto.

But according to an internal DOD memo subsequently made public, reducing DOD fuel usage by 10 percent, a not unlikely target, would have a significant impact on unit readiness of US ground forces, steaming time for US Navy ships, and flying hours for the aviation components of all the services. The memo states that in the event of such a reduction, it would be difficult for the American military to meet the requirements of the US national security strategy.