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Bush Requests Additional $72.4 Billion for Fiscal Year 2006

17 February 2006

Money intended to fund programs in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Africa

Washington -- President Bush sent a $72.4 billion emergency supplemental funding request for fiscal year 2006 to Congress February 16 to pay for the ongoing war on terrorism, urgent humanitarian aid, and other activities, such as promoting democracy in Iran.

In a letter submitted to House Speaker Dennis Hastert along with the budget request, the president said the new money would be used for “urgent, unanticipated needs to help relieve human suffering associated with a number of humanitarian crises, including Sudan and other parts of Africa, assistance for refugees, and the costs of humanitarian relief and reconstruction efforts in response to the devastating earthquake in Pakistan.”

The president’s letter says the request also would be used to create political and economic stability in post-conflict areas.  As an example, a White House fact sheet on the supplemental budget indicates that $423 million is being sought for U.S. military commanders to continue to fund small relief and reconstruction projects in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bush said the administration’s request urgently is needed to advance democracy in Iraq as well as to fight the insurgency there, in part, by training and equipping Iraqi security forces “so that they can defend their sovereignty and freedom.”

It would be used to help rebuild Afghanistan and to train and provide equipment for Afghan security forces, the president said, so that country can “continue to take control of its democratic future.”

The fiscal year 2006 supplemental budget request seeks $65.3 billion for the Defense Department to fund a variety of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the remainder to be spent by the State Department to boost its diplomatic presence in those two countries and by other agencies to fund programs including classified intelligence activities, such as $1.7 billion for military intelligence.

Highlights of the request include:

• Over $500 million for humanitarian and peacekeeping requirements in Sudan, with $125 million to be used for African food emergencies and $24 million to be spent to assist Liberian refugees returning home;

• $32 million to upgrade Afghanistan’s northern power grid;

• $126 million for humanitarian relief and reconstruction efforts in the wake of Pakistan’s devastating earthquake; 

• $193 million for counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan;

• $3.4 million for Afghanistan to help with refugees from Pakistan;

• $1.9 billion to find ways to detect and defeat improvised explosive devices;

• $3.7 billion to prepare Iraqi security forces for independent operations; and

• $75 million for greater outreach and information and cultural exchanges with Iran.

The text of the president’s letter, a fact sheet on the supplemental budget request and transcript of a briefing by officials from the Office of Management and Budget and the State and Defense department are available on the White House Web site.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)