Setting up another confrontation with congressional Democrats over the war in Iraq, President Bush sent Congress a $45.9 billion emergency funding request Monday for expenses related to U.S. military campaigns.
The request, which comes on top of $147.5 billion sought by the administration earlier this year, pushes the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to more than $600 billion.
It also appears certain to further inflame tensions between the president and his Democratic critics on Capitol Hill, who are locked in a debate over federal spending bills as well as the war.
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“Demanding nearly $200 billion for Iraq while vetoing health care for 10 million children exemplifies the Bush administration’s misplaced priorities,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday, referring to the president’s objection to spending $30 billion to expand a popular health insurance program for children.
Despite repeatedly failing to force a change of U.S. policy in Iraq, many Democrats have pledged to restrict additional money for the war in Iraq to paying for a withdrawal of troops.
Standing with a group of veterans in the White House, Bush appeared to invite the new showdown.
“I know some in Congress are against the war,” he said. “But they ought to make sure our troops have what it takes to succeed.
“Congress should not go home for the holidays while our troops are still waiting for the funds they need,” the president added.
Bush further needled Democrats with a suggestion that lawmakers keep the bill “focused on true necessities, not pet projects.”
The last war supplemental, approved in May, included millions of dollars for programs unrelated to defense, such as aid to agriculture. The Bush administration itself has used prior emergency funding requests to secure money for items only tangentially related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft program.
Pentagon officials stressed Monday that the latest request focused on the most crucial needs. The biggest single item is $11 billion for expanded production of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, which the Pentagon hopes will better protect troops from roadside bombs than the widely used Humvee.
Senior Democrats, who have worked to call attention to what is being sacrificed to pay for the war, have indicated that they will not cut off money needed to sustain troops in the field.
Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and a fierce war opponent, has not indicated how he would separate money vital to the troops from other administration requests. But Obey, whose panel drafts funding bills, has pledged not to move the emergency funding bill out of committee unless Bush agrees to change policy in Iraq.
Last week, 89 House members sent Bush a letter outlining their determination to approve additional funding only for redeploying U.S. forces.