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Bush to seek $419.3 billion for defence
The US President will ask Congress for $419.3 bn for Pentagon for next year, 4.8 per cent more than this year's spending.
US President George W Bush will ask Congress for $419.3 billion for the Pentagon for next year, 4.8 per cent more than this year's spending as the administration seeks to beef up and reshape the Army and Marine Corps for fighting terrorism.
The request will not include money for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress already has appropriated $25 billion for those this year, and the White House is planning to request another $80 billion soon.
The president plans to roll out his military spending proposal on Monday as part of a roughly $2.5 trillion overall federal budget.
But documents obtained by The Associated Press show that he will request $19.2 billion more for the Department of Defense than its $400.1 billion budget this year.
The proposal will include restructuring and expanding the Army and adding more combat and support units for the Marine Corps.
Under Bush's plan, defense spending would grow gradually, hitting $502.3 billion by 2011.
The proposal, according to one of the documents, supports the war on terrorism by "strengthening US defense capabilities and keeping US forces combat ready. It continues to implement lessons learned from ongoing operations in the war."
Those include: "The need for flexible and adaptable joint military, strong special operations forces, highly responsive logistics and the best possible intelligence and communications capabilities.
