Bush requesting $468.9 billion Pentagon budget for 2008

Last week, President Bush insisted that he supports the Democrats' plan to reign in earmarks because it will help quell reckless spending.  But some might ask whether Bush has any business complaining about Congressional spending habits, especially after he approved a Pentagon budget for 2008 that is 6% higher than the one in 2007:

The White House has approved a $468.9 billion budget for thePentagon in fiscal year 2008, a six-percent increase over last year'srequest, according to a Defense Department document obtained by Reuters.

Itis also asking the Pentagon to cover some Army and Marine Corps warcosts in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the regular budget, ratherthan through emergency budget requests.

The 2008 budget request is $4.7 billion more than the level the Pentagon forecast in its 2007 budget documents.

At least the funds for Iraq and Afghanistan will actually be included in the budget this time.  Did you know that until now the National Debt did not even include the $500 billion we have spent to this date in Iraq and Afghanistan?  It's all so that Bush could make the deficit look less than what it really is.  Great strategy, if you enjoy manipulating numerical data.