Bush Seeks $81.9 Billion More, Most of It for War

President Bush asked Congress for an additional $81.9 billion Monday that would go mainly to fund the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, boosting the cost of U.S. military operations stemming from the 2001 terrorist attacks to about $280 billion.

The bulk of the spending package would fund the wars’ day-to-day costs, but $12 billion is also requested to refurbish and replace military trucks, tanks and helicopters. Of that, $3.3 billion is earmarked to upgrade the armor on U.S. military vehicles deployed in combat zones.

The Bush administration found itself on the defensive last year after soldiers complained about having to rummage through landfills for scraps of metal to armor their vehicles.

The budget request also includes $7.4 billion to accelerate the training of local armies in Iraq and Afghanistan that are the Pentagon’s best hope for an eventual U.S. military exit from both countries.

While the Defense Department would receive roughly $75 billion of the budget request, the remainder would be spent on various State Department initiatives and tsunami relief efforts in southern Asia.

The proposed $950 million in aid to victims of the tsunami is far more than the $15 million offered shortly after the Dec. 26 disaster -- an amount that many assailed as stingy.

Although the $81.9-billion emergency funding request was not included in the budget package that Bush submitted to Congress last week, the figure was taken into account in a recent White House estimate that the federal budget deficit would total $427 billion this year.

Congress is expected to authorize the spending bill, as lawmakers from both parties are eager to show support for U.S. troops in harm’s way. Still, the budget request is expected to give some Democrats a new forum to press the White House for an “exit strategy” from Iraq -- a commitment currently costing about $1 billion a week.

Passage of the measure also could be complicated by the prospect that House Republican leaders will attach to it proposed changes in immigration policy -- including a bid to block states from issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

Bush called for quick passage of the spending request, saying it would “ensure that our troops continue to get what they need to protect themselves and complete their mission.”

The supplemental budget also would give $5.3 billion to the Army’s “transformation” efforts to create more combat brigades out of its current force structure.

This provision has drawn fire from lawmakers, who say that funds for the transformation initiative should be included in the main Pentagon budget, rather than in an “emergency” bill.

A group of 35 conservative and moderate House Democrats plans to hold a news conference today to voice this complaint and to call for “more accountability from the administration and Pentagon for funds spent in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Combined with $25 billion already approved by Congress, Monday’s budget request would bring the authorized costs for military operations and reconstruction aid in Iraq and Afghanistan this fiscal year to more than $100 billion -- compared with $87 billion Congress approved during the last fiscal year.

The State Department would receive $6.3 billion from the new funding bill, with most of the money ticketed for programs and projects in Iraq and Afghanistan aimed at building social and political stability.

Roughly $717 million is to be requested for operating the large U.S. embassy in Baghdad, which requires a security staff of 2,500 and supplies that must be imported from outside the country.

Another $660 million is earmarked to build the new embassy and move out of the existing compound that includes the sprawling Republican Palace, a building last inhabited by leaders of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

A total of $400 million would go to nations whose defense budgets have come under strain because their forces are serving as part of the American-led military coalition in Iraq.

About $773 million would accelerate a counter-narcotics program aimed at reducing the effect of what promises to be a bumper crop of opium in the fertile fields of eastern Afghanistan.

Some $242 million also would be funneled to programs aimed at easing the suffering in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said the Bush request “provides support for our men and women in uniform, but it provides little basis for optimism for a stable and secure Iraq.”

“With few results and even less accountability, the reconstruction and stabilization of Iraq has been practically shut down because the White House underestimated the growing insurgency in that nation,” Byrd said.

Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the supplemental budget request would allow the U.S. “to build on our recent successes and continue the cause of furthering democracy and freedom in Iraq.” He pledged swift action.

But the White House and congressional Republican leaders could face a thorny political problem: Do they take the chance of delaying the war-spending measure by attaching the controversial changes in immigration policy to it? Or do they risk angering influential House Republican leaders by backing down on their pledge to attach the changes to a must-pass bill?

The immigration provisions, which also would toughen requirements for gaining asylum in the U.S. and finish a fence along the California-Mexico border, were approved by the House last week. But the Senate has signaled that it may not even consider the measure, sparking the push to add the House provisions to the war-funding bill.

The $87-billion supplemental funding that Congress approved in late 2002 for Iraq and Afghanistan evolved into a political issue during the 2004 presidential campaign.

Times staff writer Tyler Marshall contributed to this report.