Got 87,000,000,000 ?

[Leftseat86]

Oh yeah...before I pay, where are those weapons of mass destruction that posed an immediate threat to my well being?

-Clovis

[AIRLNRGUY]

I have supported Bush up until this point. That is a rediculous amount of money to be helping those people. What about the starving homeless people in our country. Why do I never here the gov't helping that cause?

[N27015]

This whole point of dumping $$$ into Iraq is stupid...why not just focus on the "very real" threat in America - jobless, well probably in Bush's dictionary there's no defintion for "fire" so he probably won't care about people starving in the streets.

Or may be just Bush isn't sick of seeing poor soliders die in Baghdad everyday...

[AC_A340-500]

Oh yeah...before I pay, where are those weapons of mass destruction that posed an immediate threat to my well being?

They were fictitious. Good point though.

[sv]

ONE TRILLION

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Government is going to spend ONE TRILLION in the next five years to find solutions for poor people and Idleness !!!!!!!!

Do Bush think in this way like us???????? Do Bush really cares about his nation?????

By the way we don't pay TAX or VAT like you and health care and education are free even using Hi-Ways are 4 free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Government gave Saudi Arabian Airlines 3 Billion US$ to keep it alive every year!!! and they didn't cut and jobs since 11 Sep!!!!! they care about the families who will go to the street!!!!!

Any one know how many ZEROs there are in one TRILLION :P

[Airigami]

By the way we don't pay TAX or VAT like you and health care and education are free even using Hi-Ways are 4 free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oil will do that for an economy...

Incidentally - how high are the labor costs in Saudi Arabia?

[sv]

Not too much as you may think........ in UK they get more than us!!!!! but they pay TAXs and there life is really bad and fast!!

Don't think that Saudia has oil in there gardens!!!!!!!

[Airigami]

So where does all the money come from?

[AIRLNRGUY]

I guess it comes from all that money that was promised to all the airlines for help.

[ATLcenter]

I feel that the amount of money being fed to Iraq is acceptable. It is ridiculously high, and I admit that it is a waste of our own money, but we are the ones who set out to war. If we toppled the "government" there, then we have to fix it. It is one of the fallout consequences of war. We cannot just kill Saddam and leave unless we want _______ (insert population of Iraq in there) more terrorists. We must rebuild Iraq to the needs of the Iraqis. I'm happy we freed them, but even gifting freedom is expensive...

[Airigami]

From Tom Paine.com: http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/8857

What Can $87 Billion Buy?

The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute based in Washington, D.C.

On September 7th, President Bush asked Congress for an additional $87 billion for the war in Iraq, acknowledging that the engagement in Iraq is going to cost many hundreds of billions of dollars. This was a surprise considering that prior to the war, the administration dismissed such estimates, and even fired its top economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, for suggesting those estimates were correct. To get some perspective, here are some real-life comparisons about what $87 billion means.

$87b Is More Than The Combined Total Of All State Budget Deficits In The United States

The Bush administration proposed absolutely zero funds to help states deal with these deficits, despite the fact that their tax cuts drove down state revenues. [Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]

$87b Is Rougly The Total Of Two Years Worth Of All U.S. Unemployment Benefits

The U.S. spends about $50 billion a year on unemployment insurance. At least 1.1 million people have exhausted all of their unemployment benefits without finding a job, and yet Congress has refused to extend benefits. [Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]

$87b Is Enough To Pay The 3.3 Million People Who Have Lost Jobs $26,363 Each

The unemployment benefits extension passed by Congress at the beginning of this year provides zero benefits to "workers who exhausted their regular, state unemployment benefits and cannot find work." All told, two thirds of unemployed workers have exhausted their benefits. [Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]

$87b Is More Than Double The Total Amount The Government Spends On Homeland Security

The U.S. spends about $36 billion on homeland security. Yet, Sen. Warren Rudman (R-N.H.) wrote "America will fall approximately $98.4 billion short of meeting critical emergency responder needs" for homeland security without a funding increase. [Source: Council on Foreign Relations]

$87b Is 7 Times What The Government Spends On Title I For Low-Income Schools

President Bush proposed a budget of just $12 billion for Title I, leaving a $6.2 billion hole in what he promised to spend on Title I in his No Child Left Behind Bill. [Source: House Appropriations Committee]

$87b Is 87 Times The Amount The Federal Government Spends On After School Programs

President Bush proposed a budget that reduces the $1 billion for after-school programs to $600 million -- cutting off about 475,000 children from the program. [Souce: House Appropriations Committee]

$87b Is About 9 Times What The Federal Government Spends On Special Education

Legislation authorizes the federal government to pay 40 percent of the cost of special education, but because of budget shortfalls, it only pays roughly 18 percent (or $9.9 billion), driving up local property taxes. [Source: House Appropriations Committee]

$87b Is More Than 10 Times What The Government Spends On All Environmental Protection

The Bush administration requested just $7.6 billion for the entire Environmental Protection Agency. This included a 32 percent cut to water quality grants, a 6 percent reduction in enforcement staff, and a 50 percent cut to land acquisition and conservation. [Source: Natural Resources Defense Council]

$87b Is 8 Times The Total For Pell Grants -- The Major College Program In The U.S.

In 1975, when the Pell Grant program was established, it financed about 84 percent of the cost of attending a four-year public college. Today, that share is down to about 40 percent, and under Congress’s current proposal to freeze Pell Grant funding at about $10 billion, it would drop to 38 percent. [Source: House Appropriations Committee]

$87b Is More Than The Total Cost Of The First 3 Years Of The Medicare Pres. Drug Proposal

[Source: Congressional Budget Office]

$87b Is Enough To Give Every Man, Woman And Child In America $300

"[We] want to control spending. And I hope Congress lives up to their words. When they talk about deficits, they can join us in making sure we don't overspend. They can join us and make sure that [they are] focused those items that are absolutely necessary to the American people." - President Bush, Jan. 6, 2003

[Greg]

I want my $300 in cash please. If I recall that is the people of the U.S.'s money, not money you can throw at a country we could have left alone.

[ptbodale]

It is too bad Bush plans to spend another 87 billion in Iraq. There are so many things that could be done to help the people of the U.S.A.

[tommyalf]

What happen to all the money we found that Saddam and his son's were trying to get out of the country? Has any of that been used to help rebuild Iraq? My other question is what's in it for Americans? Are our gas prices going to go down? Are we all getting a free trip to sunny Iraq? Bush should swallow his pride and go to the U.N and ask for support. I hope all Americans write or phone their Congressman and tell them not to support this bill.

[Ansett]

would not mind $300