President Obama has officially announced his intent to expand the war effort in Afghanistan–but he hasn’t been exactly clear how, exactly, the expansion will figure into the federal budget.
In his Westpoint speech, Obama said “All told, by the time I took office the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan approached a trillion dollars. Going forward, I am committed to addressing these costs openly and honestly. Our new approach in Afghanistan is likely to cost us roughly 30 billion dollars for the military this year, and I will work closely with Congress to address these costs as we work to bring down our deficit.”
Obama has taken some preliminary steps to make the accounting for the war more clear, but none of them have suggested a way to pay for the efforts–i.e. to keep it from further adding to the deficit.
In Congress, some have suggested imposing a small war tax on wealthy Americans to fit the bill. But without Republican or conservative Democratic support, that suggestion is looking more and more improbable. Today, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) floated the idea that the war should be paid for with bonds (i.e. by borrowing). In other words, whether Afghanistan will be paid for–let alone how–remains an unanswered question
