Bush Budget Hikes War Funding

Soldiers from the 1st Division, 4th Brigade run across a snow-covered prairie as they train at Fort Riley, Kan., in this Jan. 17, 2007, file photo as they prepare for deployment in Iraq. An internal Pentagon survey released Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2007, shows hundreds of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have experienced shortages of key protective equipment including armored vehicles, roadside-bomb countermeasures, and communications gear. The Defense Department Inspector General's Office polled roughly 1,100 service members, and found they weren't always adequately equipped for their missions. The troops were interviewed in Iraq and Afghanistan last May and June. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File) (Charlie Riedel - AP)

The White House assumes war spending will be down to $50 billion in 2009 with none planned beyond then in hopes the war in Iraq will have wound down.

Bush's recent budgets have been met with skepticism by Democrats, partly because they have left out war costs and expensive changes to the alternative minimum tax, which is hitting an increasing number of middle class taxpayers. The Congressional Budget Office estimates updating the AMT for inflation would cost $93 billion in 2012 alone.

The increase in war spending _ up from $120 billion approved by Congress for 2006 _ have been prompted by large costs to replace equipment destroyed in combat or worn out in harsh conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Iraq requests are certain to face scrutiny by the Democrats, who already are debating whether to try to block Bush's request to increase troop levels in Baghdad.

Critics say the Pentagon is also using war-money requests to modernize the armed services with weaponry _ such as the next-generation Joint Strike Fighters or the controversial V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft _ unlikely to see action in Iraq or Afghanistan. The Pentagon counters that the planes are replacing aircraft that are no longer manufactured.

The additional budget request for Iraq is far below lists assembled by the military branches, which were given a green light last fall by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England. He instructed the four services that they could add projects connected to the broader fight against terrorism, though critics said that could be interpreted to cover almost anything.

Those lists were met with resistance in the White House and on Capitol Hill, and the Pentagon pared them back in the request it forwarded to the White House's Office of Management and Budget, which trimmed them further.

In addition to its share of the $245 billion for the wars, the Defense Department will seek $481.4 billion to run the department for 2008 _ an 11.3 percent increase over the $432 billion amount approved by Congress for this year, according to a defense official and budget documents.

That total includes about $12 billion to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps, to meet the growing strains of fighting wars on two fronts, said the Pentagon official, who requested anonymity because the budget has not yet been released.

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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this story.