Thursday, August 02, 2007
U.S. - $5.3 billion for mine resistant vehicles for Iraq
Military
(AP) -- The White House asked Congress Tuesday for $5.3 billion for new vehicles that are better able to withstand roadside bombs in Iraq. The $5.3 billion request for the vehicles - whose V-shaped undercarriages deflect roadside bomb blasts - will help get production lines humming at full capacity.
The funding comes on top of $5.6 billion already approved for 6,400 mine-resistant vehicles and will be added to the Pentagon's $141.7 billion request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the budget year beginning Oct. 1. The additional money would help pay for those vehicles and purchase an additional 1,520 of them, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England told the House Budget Committee.
Procurement of mine-resistant, ambush-protected, or MRAP, vehicles that have been saving lives in roadside bomb attacks has been a politically sensitive issue, with Republicans and Democrats alike demanding the Pentagon do more to protect troops from roadside bombs.
Congress has led the way in funding the MRAPs, the latest White House request coming only as the House is about to take up a huge Pentagon funding measure containing more than $4 billion for them. The White House requested just $400 million in its February budget.
The requests brings the budget for Pentagon operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2008 budget year to $147 billion, said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who chairs a spending panel responsible for the Pentagon and Iraq war budgets. But that figure is likely to jump to more than $170 billion, Murtha said, citing the rapid pace of Pentagon spending in Iraq.
The funding comes on top of $5.6 billion already approved for 6,400 mine-resistant vehicles and will be added to the Pentagon's $141.7 billion request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the budget year beginning Oct. 1. The additional money would help pay for those vehicles and purchase an additional 1,520 of them, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England told the House Budget Committee.
Procurement of mine-resistant, ambush-protected, or MRAP, vehicles that have been saving lives in roadside bomb attacks has been a politically sensitive issue, with Republicans and Democrats alike demanding the Pentagon do more to protect troops from roadside bombs.
Congress has led the way in funding the MRAPs, the latest White House request coming only as the House is about to take up a huge Pentagon funding measure containing more than $4 billion for them. The White House requested just $400 million in its February budget.
The requests brings the budget for Pentagon operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2008 budget year to $147 billion, said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who chairs a spending panel responsible for the Pentagon and Iraq war budgets. But that figure is likely to jump to more than $170 billion, Murtha said, citing the rapid pace of Pentagon spending in Iraq.
Labels: Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, MRAPS
