Cord Byrd: “my remarks will not be lengthy, but I entitle them as follows: ``Putting $87 Billion Into Context.'' The Senate will…”

“my remarks will not be lengthy, but I entitle them as follows: ``Putting $87 Billion Into Context.'' The Senate will soon consider the President's request for an additional $87 billion to fund the U.S. occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and to aid in their reconstruction. The $87 billion supplemental brings to a total of $194 billion the amount the United States is spending in Iraq and Afghanistan. Let me repeat that. The $87 billion supplemental brings to $194 billion the amount the United States is spending in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than twice what the administration had led the public to believe just a few months ago. The 1991 Persian Gulf war, by contrast, cost $61 billion, of which the United States paid only $7 billion. That is $7 billion spent in 1991 compared to $194 billion today, almost 28 times higher. The Bush administration's $87 billion supplemental request is the largest emergency spending request since 1977. The $87 billion request, just for Iraq and Afghanistan, just for next year, roughly equals, in current dollars, the total amount of money spent to rebuild the entire continent of Europe after World War II. The request is larger than the $74 billion the Defense Department plans to spend on all new weapons purchases next year. The request is more than twice the administration's entire $35 billion homeland security budget for next year.”