Political Quotes

“the President requested $463.1 billion in total FY 2008 new budget authority for the Department of Defense and intelligence community programs that fall under the purview of the Defense Subcommittee. This is an increase of about $43.3 billion over last year's enacted level--a 10.3 percent increase in nominal terms. The lion's share of the increase over FY 2007, some 80 percent, was allocated to operation and maintenance and procurement programs. DoD's research and development program request is the same as last year's level, a decrease in real terms due to several major programs having completed their R&D phase and moved into full-fledged production. The Committee's reported bill meets its budget authority allocation of $459.6 billion for FY 2008. This figure is a little more than $3.5 billion below the President's budget request. Nonetheless, the Committee bill provides an increase for Defense of $39.7 billion over the FY 2007 enacted level, or about 9.5 percent in nominal growth. With respect to outlays, the Committee bill is roughly $2.9 billion below the allocation. In general, meeting the budget authority allocation required shifting funding for certain programs between the FY 2008 base budget bill and the FY 2008 war supplemental, to be considered in September. This largely affected appropriations for the Department's operation and maintenance activities.”