Reply #3: House panel backs $45 bln for Iraq

[Barrett808]

House panel backs $45 bln for Iraq
By Vicki Allen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A House of Representatives subcommittee on Tuesday approved another $45 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, which would bring the costs of the U.S. military operations there to more than $300 billion.

The House Appropriations Defense subcommittee agreed in a closed session to add the emergency money to its bill to fund the Pentagon in the next fiscal year starting on Oct. 1.

The White House did not ask for the additional money, but lawmakers have said the Pentagon would need a "bridge fund" for Iraq and Afghanistan to carry it from October through March 2006 when Congress will have to pass another emergency spending bill.

The Pentagon has just received $76 billion for the wars from an $82 billion emergency bill Congress passed this month.

"This was their initiative," Scott Milburn, a spokesman for the White House budget office, said of the $45 billion. "Our basic position is we'll work with them to determine the most effective way to use it in '06."

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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050524/pl_nm/iraq_usa_congress_dc