Dusty Johnson: “recently the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2007 Defense appropriations bill. As a member of…”

“recently the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2007 Defense appropriations bill. As a member of the committee, I supported this measure, and it is now being considered by the full Senate. The bill provides $453.5 billion in new discretionary spending authority for the Department of Defense. Included in this amount is $50 billion for contingency operations related to the global war on terror. I have repeatedly called upon the Bush administration to be frank with American taxpayers about funding levels for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. For far too long, the Bush administration has relied upon emergency supplemental spending measures, as opposed to the annual budget process, to fund our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. I believe that is wrong. In his budget proposal, President Bush finally submitted a $50 billion request for a bridge fund to support military efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq for the coming fiscal year. The Senate Appropriations Committee funded this request, but I remain concerned that this level of funding will be insufficient, and once again Congress will need to consider another emergency supplemental appropriations bill. Furthermore, President Bush's continued insistence on maintaining tax breaks for the extremely wealthy has made it incredibly difficult to fund important domestic spending programs.…”