Senate sends $612 billion defense bill to Bush

[MBX]

In midst of all the Bailout craze nobody seems to really care much about the $612 billion passed for "defense" two days ago. It has been barely mentioned by the mainstream media.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080927/ap_on_go_co/defense_bill

Unbelievable.

[BigHungry04]

We have to pay for the war. We must equip our soldiers. The war may be wrong, but failing to pay our soldiers and equip them in a war-zone is even worse.

[iShater]

And there is more to pay, there is only 60+ billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, which is not enough for the year, so expect a couple of supplemental bills.

I think we are getting close to over $800 billion for the war so far or something.

Ironically, I was just reading about that link (http://www.antiwar.com/engelhardt/?articleid=13520)

Darn Libertarians, reminding us how we are wasting money at home and abroad. ;)

[mpshay]

I'm not saying that the costs for Iraq & Afghanistan are not high, but don't think that all that money is spent on the actual conflict itself. There are a lot of things that are considered "cost of war" and funded out of those supplementals.

[mactastic]

The entire war has been funded using supplementals to this point, has it not?

[KingYaba]

In midst of all the Bailout craze nobody seems to really care much about the $612 billion passed for "defense" two days ago. It has been barely mentioned by the mainstream media.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080927/ap_on_go_co/defense_bill

Unbelievable.
It's almost nauseating.

[Thanatoast]

Wasn't twenty-five billion of that for our beleagured (read: poorly managed) auto industry? Either way, six hundred billion is too much to spend on a wholly non-productive industry. Gotta hand it to the Republicans though, they managed to cow the Dems and the people into doubling the dollars spent blowing stuff up in only eight years...

[abijnk]

"defense" != "war in Iraq" first of all. Nor does it mean the money is only going for making bombs. I work for a defense contractor (well, I'm an intern :o) and thus am wholly greatfull for this spending bill.

[MBX]

"defense" != "war in Iraq" first of all. Nor does it mean the money is only going for making bombs. I work for a defense contractor (well, I'm an intern :o) and thus am wholly greatfull for this spending bill.

You work for the devil :)

[benzslrpee]

You work for the devil :)

it's good to be bad :D

[MBX]

it's good to be bad :D

Not in that regard.

[abijnk]

You work for the devil :)

The devil pays well.

[hulugu]

We have to pay for the war. We must equip our soldiers. The war may be wrong, but failing to pay our soldiers and equip them in a war-zone is even worse.

A significant portion of this budget is procurement, including construction for new ships for the Navy, more F-22/ATF spending for the Air Force, and Future Combat Systems for the Army.

I'm not saying that the costs for Iraq & Afghanistan are not high, but don't think that all that money is spent on the actual conflict itself. There are a lot of things that are considered "cost of war" and funded out of those supplementals.

The entire war has been funded using supplementals to this point, has it not?

I think you're right. At the beginning, I believe much of the funding came straight from the defense budget, but ever since, Bush has asked for supplemental bills.

According to this article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/26/AR2008062604076.html), the latest funding vote was in the summer.

Also, a good article (http://www.slate.com/id/2165280) from 2007 on whether or not the military can go broke without such a bill.

[takao]

A significant portion of this budget is procurement, including construction for new ships for the Navy, more F-22/ATF spending for the Air Force, and Future Combat Systems for the Army.

correct ... and nearly all of those projects are in the trillion category over the years combined so don't expect those numbers to drop fast (and i don't expect a democrat to cancel them either .. since those replacements are actually needed)