Outlays for discretionary programs are on page 154 of this
document (PDF, 3MB). The numbers for fiscal year 2008 are projections.
The estimates for the 2007-2008 Budget year are as follows:
Defense*
$459,600,000,000
Iraq*
$196,400,000,000
Veterans
$38,592,000,000
International Affairs
$38,214,000,000
Science & Energy
$30,500,000,000
Environment
$31,727,000,000
Agriculture
$6,089,000,000
Transportation
$76,787,000,000
Community Development
$27,561,000,000
Education
$76,397,000,000
Health
$59,022,000,000
Housing
$60,827,000,000
Administration
$65,112,000,000
Total:
$1,166,828,000,000
* After OMB created this summary, Congress passed
House Resolution 3222 by a vote of
395 to 13. This law appropriates the Department of Defense budget for the
fiscal year ending September 30, 2008. I replaced the OMB's $602 Billion estimate
with the actual amount of $459.6 Billion.
* President Bush has never included war in the national budget, prefering
instead to request "emergency funding," every year for 5 years in row. On October
22, 2007, he transmitted to Congress his
2008 War Funding Request. It says that his "funding requirements in 2008 to
continue the Global War on Terror" total $196.4 Billion.
Veterans
We must fulfill our commitment to the men and women who have served, so why
is the veterans slice of the pie chart colored red?
Because this war is not necessary, the casualties are not necessary, the
suffering is not necessary and the cost is not necessary.
Nuclear Weapons
Oddly, the
Department of Energy maintains our nuclear weapons stockpile, not
the Department of Defense. Therefore this part of the military spending is
contained in the science and energy slice of the budget pie.
According to TrueMajority.org,
these weapons cost $17.6 Billion per year. Ben Cohen's movie clip demonstrates
what we get for that all that money.
Professor
Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University won the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics.
Linda Bilmes is Professor of public finance at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
According to their new book, the Iraq War has become the second-most expensive in
US history, after World War II. They say that even if we withdraw all our troops
tomorrow, the war will still keep costing us money for many years to come.
Direct costs, already spent
Future operational costs
Military equipment and reset
Recruitment
Long term medical
Long term disability
Opportunity cost for lives lost
Higher oil prices
Interest on the war debt
