Washington - US President George W Bush is asking Congress for nearly 3 trillion dollars in his budget for fiscal year 2008, with about one-quarter earmarked for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the defence budget, according to news reports on the document to be released Monday.
With the exception of defence, which would get a 10 per cent boost, overall spending increases would be limited to 1 per cent for 2008, less than enough to keep up with last year's inflation rate of 2.5 per cent. Bush is calling for a balanced budget by 2012.
Expenditures for public health care - Medicare for senior citizens and Medicaid for the poor - would be reduced by 80 billion dollars, shifting more of the burden of health for the needy to the individual states, Cable News Network reported.
The 716-billion-dollar defence segment of the budget includes 245 billion dollars for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and 481 billion dollars to cover the 10 per cent increase in regular Pentagon spending for 2008.
The defence request includes funds to increase the size of the Army by more than 13 percent to 547,000 and the Marine Corps by 15 percent to 202,000 over four years, Bloomberg news service reported.
Bush has been criticized for funding the wars through special requests to Congress in an effort to keep the appearance of the budget smaller. But the war funding for 2008 is being included in the new budget request, senior administration officials were quoted as saying.
If approved by Congress, the war spending would bring to 745 billion dollars the amount of money the US has spent on the two wars since the terrorist attacks of September 2001, the Washington Post reported over the weekend.
Democrats who are in control of Congress for the first time in 13 years have vowed to have a louder voice in making decisions about the war, and many oppose the Republican leader's deployment of another 21,000 troops to Iraq to help bring sectarian fighting in Baghdad under control.
Democrats are expected to examine war expenditures closely to regain some control over the direction of US policy in Iraq.
In other budget proposals:
- The US would spend 145.2 billion dollars on the 'global' war on terrorism.
- Planning beyond 2008 would balance the budget by 2012. Bush inherited a surplus from his predecessor, centre-left Democrat Bill Clinton, but through tax cuts, a slowing economy and increased costs for defence and homeland security, the deficit fell 22 per cent in 2006 to 248 billion dollars, its second decline in a row.
- Although Bush pledged increased spending on alternative energy, the 2008 proposal outlines about 1.2 billion dollars - the same amount Bush proposed for 2001, CNN reported.
- 1.82 billion dollars for the US State Department for 'strengthening' democracy in Iraq, including 400 million dollars for job creation and building the Iraqi governance system.
- 5.4 billion dollars for AIDS research and prevention, 300 million dollars for malaria research and 3 billion dollars for the Millennium Challenge Account for poor countries.
- Bush also called for 2 billion dollars in unused tax benefits for a direct rail link to John F Kennedy International Airport in New York from lower Manhattan, reports said.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/..._3-trillion-dollar_budget_boosts_war_spending
With the exception of defence, which would get a 10 per cent boost, overall spending increases would be limited to 1 per cent for 2008, less than enough to keep up with last year's inflation rate of 2.5 per cent. Bush is calling for a balanced budget by 2012.
Expenditures for public health care - Medicare for senior citizens and Medicaid for the poor - would be reduced by 80 billion dollars, shifting more of the burden of health for the needy to the individual states, Cable News Network reported.
The 716-billion-dollar defence segment of the budget includes 245 billion dollars for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and 481 billion dollars to cover the 10 per cent increase in regular Pentagon spending for 2008.
The defence request includes funds to increase the size of the Army by more than 13 percent to 547,000 and the Marine Corps by 15 percent to 202,000 over four years, Bloomberg news service reported.
Bush has been criticized for funding the wars through special requests to Congress in an effort to keep the appearance of the budget smaller. But the war funding for 2008 is being included in the new budget request, senior administration officials were quoted as saying.
If approved by Congress, the war spending would bring to 745 billion dollars the amount of money the US has spent on the two wars since the terrorist attacks of September 2001, the Washington Post reported over the weekend.
Democrats who are in control of Congress for the first time in 13 years have vowed to have a louder voice in making decisions about the war, and many oppose the Republican leader's deployment of another 21,000 troops to Iraq to help bring sectarian fighting in Baghdad under control.
Democrats are expected to examine war expenditures closely to regain some control over the direction of US policy in Iraq.
In other budget proposals:
- The US would spend 145.2 billion dollars on the 'global' war on terrorism.
- Planning beyond 2008 would balance the budget by 2012. Bush inherited a surplus from his predecessor, centre-left Democrat Bill Clinton, but through tax cuts, a slowing economy and increased costs for defence and homeland security, the deficit fell 22 per cent in 2006 to 248 billion dollars, its second decline in a row.
- Although Bush pledged increased spending on alternative energy, the 2008 proposal outlines about 1.2 billion dollars - the same amount Bush proposed for 2001, CNN reported.
- 1.82 billion dollars for the US State Department for 'strengthening' democracy in Iraq, including 400 million dollars for job creation and building the Iraqi governance system.
- 5.4 billion dollars for AIDS research and prevention, 300 million dollars for malaria research and 3 billion dollars for the Millennium Challenge Account for poor countries.
- Bush also called for 2 billion dollars in unused tax benefits for a direct rail link to John F Kennedy International Airport in New York from lower Manhattan, reports said.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/..._3-trillion-dollar_budget_boosts_war_spending
