Administration Plans To ‘Let Her Rip’ In Gigantic New Emergency Spending Bill For Iraq

For several years, the Bush administration has been circumventing the traditional budget process by requesting emergency spending bill to cover the costs of Iraq and Afghanistan. (So far, more that $300 billion has been spent on Iraq alone.)

The process has contributed to a fiscal situation that is “out-of-control.” After inheriting record surpluses, the Bush administration celebrated a deficit of “only” $248 billion in 2006.

Now, the administration is preparing its next “emergency” request for Iraq and Afghanistan. This time, it’s expected to be even larger, because of a memo written by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon R. England that encourages the military services to exploit the process. The LA Times has the story:

The next request stands to be larger partly because of new rules laid out in an Oct. 25 memo from Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon R. England. Rather than strictly limiting spending to Iraq and Afghanistan costs, the memo said the military services could include costs associated with operations that are part of the larger war on terrorism.

Previously, the military portion of the supplemental spending measures has been used almost exclusively for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. England’s memo would allow the military to include a greater number of expenses more loosely tied to the actual wars, such as new military weapons systems and training exercises.

Critics of the Pentagon budget process say the memo has encouraged the services to inflate their requests.

“The England memo basically said, ‘Let her rip,’ ” said Winslow Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project and a former congressional budget aide. “Anything goes, as long as you can put it under the pretext of not only Iraq or Afghanistan but the global war on terror.“

The military should get the equipment and resources it needs. But unless these are provided through the regular budget process, anything approaching fiscal discipline is all but impossible.