$747 billion for
Iraq
$299 billion for
Afghanistan
Congress
has appropriated an additional $136.8 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
for the 2010 fiscal year. National Priorities Project estimates that for this
fiscal year, $64.5 billion is directed to Iraq and $72.3 billion to
Afghanistan. Bills that included war-related funding were the Department of
Homeland Security Appropriations Act (H.R. 2892) passed on October 28, 2009; the
Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 3288) passed on December 16, 2009; and the
Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 3326) passed on December 19,
2009.
These new
appropriations bring total war-related spending for Iraq to $747.3 billion and
for Afghanistan to $299 billion, with total war costs of $1.05
trillion[1]. National Priorities Project
(NPP) updated
its Cost of War
counters to
reflect the new totals and to show the local costs of these wars to states and
many cities. NPP's
trade-off tool allows you to explore what services
could be obtained for your community with the same amount of money that Congress
has appropriated for war spending.
These
current year appropriations do not include funds to support the “surge” of
30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan proposed by the Obama administration on
December 1, 2009. Conservative estimates suggest that it will cost
approximately $30 billion to fund this surge. Supplemental appropriations for
this funding are expected later this year.
Since
2001, the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and related activities have been
funded through emergency supplemental appropriations. In a clear departure from
this practice, the Obama administration integrated the FY2010 war funding into
the core budget appropriations process. While this process purportedly allows
for greater scrutiny and control over the allocation of tax dollars relative to
the emergency supplemental funding process, it has – ironically – also become more
difficult to ascertain the exact spending amounts directed to Iraq and
Afghanistan. Past supplemental bills outlined funding almost exclusively for
war costs whereas departmental appropriations combine these war costs with all
other departmental funds for the entire fiscal year.
War
funding was found within three separate appropriations bills with the bulk of
money in the Defense Appropriations Bill passed just before Congress left for
their winter break. In addition to defense funding, this bill was used to
extend Food Stamp benefits (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - SNAP),
unemployment benefits, and COBRA payments to continue health insurance coverage
for the unemployed[2].
NPP will
continue to follow Iraq and Afghanistan war funding including any supplemental
bills to support the Afghanistan surge that has already begun as well as any
other additional war costs.
For more information: 413.584.9556
or www.nationalpriorities.org.
