US President George W. Bush will propose a US$379 billion Pentagon budget, which would spend US$9.4 billion to battle terrorism, plus extra money for weapons procurement, training and a pay raise for troops, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The proposal, part of the US$2.13 trillion federal budget for next year the president will release tomorrow, provides the first detailed glimpse at how Bush would prioritize defense spending. He and other administration officials already have said defense, domestic security and the economy will be the three top priorities of his spending plan.
Bush's plan calls for an increase of US$45 billion, or 13.5 percent, over this year's defense total. Bush announced a US$48 billion increase last week, but the budget documents use the smaller figure because they include spending this year for some retirement costs that had not been counted earlier.
"The budget fulfills President Bush's pledge to win the war against terrorism, defend America and its people, improve quality of life for our men and women in uniform and accelerate a bold transformation of the US military to counter 21st century threats," one of the papers says.
The proposal, like the rest of the budget, will be considered by Congress. But with a war against terror under way and troops in Afghanistan, lawmakers of both parties probably will support healthy defense increases this year, even as federal deficits return.
Even so, some congressional officials have privately criticized Bush's proposed increase as providing less than the numbers would make it appear. They say that after inflation is factored in, costs of buttressing the military's ailing health-care system and a US$10 billion contingency fund to cover military operations, little is left to strengthen the Pentagon's war-fighting capabilities.
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