Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have requested an additional $235 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, on top of more than $350 billion already spent on those conflicts.
Appearing Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations Committee, the secretaries sold the president’s plans for Iraq, and fielded questions on the logic of the spending and the sheer size of the budget request. “Congress cannot continue to fund failing strategies and failing policies,” Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. said. “We need to know that the funds that you are requesting will be more than continue the status quo.”
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