Request: $537B annually to DoD for 10 years - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Request: $537B annually to DoD for 10 years

President Barack Obama’s administration is expected to announce Thursday the Pentagon’s 10-year topline spending plan will start with a request for a $537 billion base budget in 2010 and assume flat budgets adjusted only for inflation over the subsequent nine years, a source said.

The White House declined comment.

The administration also is expected to seek $75.5 billion in supplemental funding to cover war operations for the rest of 2009, the source said. In 2010, the administration is likely to seek $130 billion in supplemental funding to pay for Afghanistan and Iraq operations. The administration will, however, provide separate estimates for war-specific costs in each of the coming years.

The announcement of topline budgets for government departments is intended to allow the Congress to start writing the 2010 budget resolution. details such as spending on weapons, research and development, and other categories will be released in April when the administration submits its 2010 budget request to Congress.

Obama during his Feb. 24 address to a joint session of Congress pledged to be more transparent about war costs.

“That is why this budget looks ahead 10 years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules — and for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Obama said. “For seven years, we have been a nation at war. No longer will we hide its price.”

Obama has been critical of the Bush administration practice of using catch-all supplemental funding to pay not only for sustained war costs, but also acquisition and other programs normally part of the base Pentagon budget.

The Pentagon’s 2009 base budget is $515 billion, with $68.5 billion in supplemental funding allocated so far for Iraq and Afghanistan operations.

If approved by Congress, the $537 billion base budget would increase the Pentagon’s topline spending by 3 percent.