As usual for Bush budgets, this one is short on details, long on rhetoric. So I once again pulled on my mud boots and waded through the bog of budget lingo to translate this bill into common English.
Background On February 17, 2005, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took the MMI spending bill to the Senate Appropriations Committee, where she stumped for its passage with an impassioned, cleverly written speech.
In mid-March, the House passed the MMI bill, with certain amendments modifying the President’s plan. A record 43 Representatives voted to stop all funding of US Iraq efforts. The Senate will begin debate in mid-April.
The US has already spent about $200 billion invading, policing and trying to rebuild Iraq. An all-time high of 150,000 US troops presently occupies Iraq. Of that $200 billion, US authorities admit to “losing” $9 billion because of corruption and weak “controls.”
Asking for $82 billion using an emergency method rather than normal budget procedures has rankled both sides of the aisle, as has stonewalling on details by key administration members. Emergency bills are usually accorded less scrutiny, to allow rapid response to emergencies.
House Republican Conference Chairman Deborah Pryce said that several leaders have complained that the request includes expenses that are obviously not emergencies. GOP lawmakers are also irked that the spending request is “too vague to analyze.”
Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, arrogantly told the Senate Appropriations Committee, “This issue of what goes in a supplemental is something that really is beyond my pay grade.” (Seriously, he said that.) $77 billion of the $82 billion is earmarked for Defense.
The Bill The MMI bill has thousands of budget line-items. Here are a few of the most significant.
One controversial request is for $658 million to build the world’s largest embassy, a new US Embassy in Iraq. The fortress-like Baghdad super-bunker would be bomb-proof and wired for state-of-the-art communications and surveillance. An exact count of planned embassy staff has not been released for “security reasons.”
By a vote of 258 to 170, the House passed an amendment to delete this project, and to deter funds from being spent on a new US Embassy in Iraq. House leadership directed the irate White House to include it in next year’s normal budget package.
Since late 2003, US military engineers have been constructing 14 US “enduring bases” designed for long-term encampment of thousands of American soldiers. The bases would also be key outposts for Bush officials and policy advisers.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmit commented in 2004, “This is a blueprint for how we could operate in the Middle East.” These bases provide secure options to maintain a robust US presence for many years in the Middle East. The budget amount set aside for these 14 bases is unclear.
The MMI bill asked for billions in “foreign aid.” The House cut that figure in half, although the White House is lobbying to reinstate those cuts, including $400 million to “reward war allies.”
Tucked into the bill was a request for less than $1 billion for tsunami relief and emergency humanitarian needs, including the Darfur crisis in Sudan. The House added to $150 million in Sudan food aid, and the Senate Appropriations Committee added $100 million in Sudanese refugee assistance.
Bush and Rice also asked for:
- $7 billion to train Iraqi and Afghan forces to protect their own countries.
- $796 million to “improve the lives of Afghan citizens”
- $2 billion to “widen the reach of the Karzai government”
- $200 million for the Palestinian Authority
To the Bush plan, the House added $1.8 billion to support US service men and women. Now included in the MMI bill are:
- 47,000 sets of body armor
- 1,700 more armored vehicles
- funding for 10 additional combat brigades
- increase combat “death gratuity” from $12,500 to $100,000
- increase maximum life Insurance benefit from $250,000 to $400,000
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) will introduce a $2 billion amendment to help veterans of the Iraq and Afghan conflicts. Senator Murray scolded Rumsfeld in the Senate Appropriation hearing by calling it a “troubling” omission that he neglected to include any funding for the veterans.
“There is no mention in here of our responsibility to pay for the continued emotional and physical costs of war,” Murray said. “It’s as if once these brave men and women leave the service, they’re no longer considered an essential priority for the administration.”
The full Senate will address the MMI spending bill in April 2005, then will work with the House to cobble a final bill, to be sent to the White House for presidential signature.
