President Bush To Hit Up The ATM Congress Again

Mr. Fiscal Conservative prepares to throw more of your money down the war well-

President Bush will ask Congress for another $46 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and finance other national security needs, The Associated Press has learned.

The figure, which Bush was expected to announce later Monday at the White House, brings to $196.4 billion the total requested by the administration for operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere for the budget year that started Oct. 1. It includes $189.3 billion for the Defense Department, $6.9 billion for the State Department and $200 million for other agencies...

...To date, Congress has already provided more than $455 billion for the Iraq war, with stepped-up military operations running about $12 billion a month. The war has claimed the lives of more than 3,830 members of the U.S. military and more than 73,000 Iraqi civilians...

And how is Congress reacting? Well let's see-

Top House lawmakers have already announced that they do not plan to act on Bush's request until next year, though they anticipate providing interim funds when completing a separate defense funding bill this fall.

Translation: 'Yes, we will give the President his money. Just not all at once.'

But it's not all about Iraq. Some pennies, relatively, will be thrown toward other situations-

The request also includes $724 million for U.N. peacekeeping efforts in the war-torn Darfur region in Sudan, $106 million in fuel oil or comparable assistance to North Korea as a reward for the rogue nation's promises to cease its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Another $350 million would go to fight famine in Africa.

Rest of the world to America: 'Hey thanks for remembering us!' / Iraqis: 'Please don't get comfortable.'

[PS- Congressional Budget Office estimates the final war costs... a measly $2.4 trillion.]