No More Emergency Supplementals for OIF, OEF
DEPSECDEF Gordon England told the House Budget Committee yesterday that the 2007 supplemental would be the last, as DoD’s FY08 budget would incorporate costs for OIF and OEF.
“In ‘08, there’s not a plan to have a supplemental,” England said.
Lawmakers in both parties have criticized the administration for funding the war through such requests, bypassing normal budgetary review and accountability.
And thus the crunch will continue. Defense spending may increase in FY08, but I doubt it’ll increase by more than $100 billion (the size of the 2007 supplemental), meaning that in absolute terms the amount of money being spent on defense will go down. The trade-offs between modernization and near-term adaptation will become more severe.
