Thursday
Aug052004
Thursday, August 5, 2004 at 12:34PM
President George W. Bush approved another $25
billion in emergency funds for military operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan on Thursday, while appealing to key military
constituents as he signed a new $417 billion Pentagon spending
bill. The Bush administration had previously said it would not
need more money for Iraq and Afghanistan until the new fiscal
year, which begins on Oct. 1, but officials later acknowledged
they might need to draw on the emergency funds allocated by
Congress. A congressional report last month said the
administration had underestimated costs for Iraq and Afghanistan
by $12.3 billion for the current fiscal year. Congress, which had
approved an $87 billion emergency spending bill in October 2003
to finance military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through
the end of September, sanctioned the extra funds late last month
as a down payment on next year's emergency spending bill. [more]