US Air Force seeks 33.4 bln dollars in extra 2007 funds

WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) The US Air Force today said it asked Pentagon officials for 33.4 billion dollars in extra funding for fiscal 2007 to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and costs related to the ''longer war on terror.'' US lawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated about the Pentagon's continued use of emergency budget requests to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, given that the military's costs there are predictable to some extent.

The Air Force submitted an initial 17.4 billion dollars supplemental budget request in August for fiscal 2007, which began on October 1, but increased its request by 16 billion dollars this month based on new ground rules allowing costs beyond the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said spokeswoman Maj. Morshe Araujo.

''In total, the Air Force FY07 supplemental request now exceeds 33 billion dollars,'' Araujo said.

The service has already asked Pentagon leaders for 50 billion dollars in extra war funds for fiscal 2008.

She said Pentagon officials had not yet decided whether to approve the fiscal 2007 request, which would come on top of the Air Force's base budget request of 105.9 billion dollars.

The Air Force gave no details on the new fiscal 2007 request, but officials last month said the money would help replace and repair worn out equipment and maintain readiness.

Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England told the services in an October 25 memo to include the ''longer war on terror,'' not just the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in their emergency funding requests for fiscal 2007.

Defense consultant Jim McAleese said the Pentagon was likely to ask Congress in February for 75 billion dollars to 128 billion dollars in additional war funding for fiscal 2007, including 49 billion dollars for the US Army.

That would be on top of 70 billion dollars in war funding already approved by Congress for fiscal 2007 last September.

England's expanded definition of war spending has already raised questions on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers passed into law in September a provision mandating that war expenses be included in the Pentagon's fiscal 2008 base budget request.

Lawmakers are frustrated because the Pentagon's current way of paying for the war ''off budget'' helps it escape the more rigorous congressional oversight of regular budgets.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had been scheduled to decide on the supplemental funding requests on November 15, according to the England memo.

But the timetable for the Pentagon's budget deliberations has slipped somewhat, given Rumsfeld's ouster the day after the November 8 election, in which Democrats won control of the US House of Representatives and the Senate.

Rumsfeld is expected to remain in office until the Senate approves President George W Bush's choice to replace him, former CIA Director Robert Gates.

Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate have said they expect Gates to win speedy confirmation to the post after hearings due to begin December 5.

REUTERS SBA BST0240