Bush nearly triples request for tsunami relief (Cox)
President Bush said yesterday he would ask Congress for $950 million for tsunami relief, nearly tripling U.S. aid pledged for victims of the monstrous seismic wave that swept the Indian Ocean in December. The beefed-up aid proposal, to be part of a supplemental budget request to go to Congress later this week, includes money to cover emergency relief efforts as well as new funding to help rebuild bridges, roads, schools and housing destroyed in a natural disaster that took some 150,000 lives.
In a statement, Bush said the money would help restore communities and rebuild “vital infrastructure that re-energizes economies and strengthens societies” in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other countries that bore the brunt of the tsunami’s wrath.
US plans $400m reward for allies (BBC)
US President George W Bush is asking Congress for $400m (£215m) to reward a number of countries that sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. A White House spokesman said the money would “assist nations which have taken political and economic risks”. The fund is part of a $80bn war funding request President Bush will send to Congress next week. […] Poland, for instance, which has 2,500 troops in Iraq, will receive $100m. […] The fund, called the Solidarity Initiative, will benefit countries “promoting freedom around the world”, Mr McClellan said in a statement. […] Officials declined to say which other nations would benefit, but there has been suggestion that the fund will help to Eastern European nations, such as Ukraine, Hungary, Romania and the Baltic states.
These funds are going to good causes but one wonders how profligate our spending would be were we not experiencing record (in raw numbers, not real dollars or percentage of GDP) budget deficits.
