Staggering New Projection For Iraq War Cost Shows Long-Term Impact On Priorities At Home, Says Sen. Menendez

Administration is "spending all our money over there so we don't spend it here"

October 24, 2007 -- WASHINGTON – Today, the Congressional Budget Office released a new estimate of the costs of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, pegging the total at $2.4 trillion over the next decade if 75,000 troops are kept over there. That equals $8,000 per person in this country. If it is assumed that the Iraq War will take up 80 percent of that total, the United States will spend an estimated $1.9 trillion on that war alone over ten years, or $6,333 per person.

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U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Budget Committee who last week began a series of speeches on the Senate floor comparing the spending in Iraq to domestic priority needs, today released the following statement:

“Americans who see that this war will cost more than $6,300 per man, woman and child over the next ten years are going to wonder why the president won’t make that sort of investment in our families,” said Menendez. “President Bush has made it clear that he has no plans to bring our troops home. We know what that’s costing in precious lives, and this report details what it will cost in taxpayer money that could help secure the homeland and provide education and health coverage for our children.

“In Congress, we are passing legislation that invests in our future here at home. President Bush has held one hand out to ask for $200 billion for Iraq this year, while with the other hand he’s going to veto children’s health coverage, cancer screenings, workplace safety and early childhood education. The Bush Administration likes to parrot the line that ‘we’re fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here.’ But Americans have figured out that what they mean is, ‘We’re spending all our money over there so we don’t spend it here.’”

Last week, Sen. Menendez began his speeches on what Iraq is costing here at home by looking at security and public safety issues (http://menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=285602), and he followed that with a speech comparing Iraq spending to children’s health coverage (http://menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=285960).

Source: Senator Robert Menendez