The President's War Request: Local Costs Updated

As Congress considers additional war funding for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2009, National Priorities Project offers a state-level table and breakdowns of the President's proposed total war spending by congressional district, county and city.

Of the President's $83.4 billion supplemental request, NPP analyses show that $77.1 billion is for war and ancillary operations. Of that, we estimate that $52.7 billion is dedicated to the Iraq War for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2009. The estimated remaining $24.4 billion in war-funding is for the expanding war in Afghanistan and related operations¹. Notably, we have not included funding for Pakistan (this is a part of the remaining $6.3 billion requested that is not directly related to conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq). As U.S. military intervention spills into Pakistan from Afghanistan, this distinction may be revisited. If NPP had considered operations in Pakistan in the same light as Afghanistan, this would add $1.8 billion to war funding.

To date, the cost of war that has been approved by Congress is $830.2 billion with $657.3 billion to Iraq and $172.9 billion to Afghanistan. The $77.1 billion from the supplemental request brings total war spending to $907.3 billion dollars since 2001.

According to the Obama administration, this is the last time war spending will be funded through an emergency supplemental request. Beginning with Fiscal Year 2010, war funding will be a part of the regular budget process. While this means that war spending as a part of the normal budget process will be subject to rigors that have been largely absent from emergency supplemental requests, the possibility exists that it may be more difficult to track war-related non-military spending such as economic support or some humanitarian aid. We hope that in the spirit of budgetary transparency advocated by the Obama administration, these aspects of war-related spending will continue to be clear in upcoming budget requests.

The table below shows, for each state, how much money has already been allocated to total war spending including Iraq, Afghanistan, and related operations; what the additional amount under consideration will cost; and what the requested funding could buy in local services. For congressional district, county, and city data, click here [1].

	Cost of War to States		Requested Funding Could Provide:
States and US	Total war funding approved to date²	President's new funding request (remainder FY09)³	People with health insurance for one year	Homes with renewable electricity for one year	Students with maximum Pell Grants ($5350)
United States	$830,200,000,000	$77,057,000,000	22,710,848	79,773,852	14,403,178
Alabama	$7,606,012,648	$705,970,268	294,241	521,106	131,957
Alaska	$1,420,708,280	$131,866,439	18,533	183,829	24,648
Arizona	$11,430,118,703	$1,060,913,824	239,705	908,901	198,302
Arkansas	$7,775,794,652	$721,728,991	477,258	603,066	134,903
California	$105,167,757,808	$9,761,397,149	4,017,664	17,392,387	1,824,560
Colorado	$12,691,113,979	$1,177,956,119	358,587	1,552,744	220,179
Connecticut	$20,274,883,816	$1,881,861,867	621,754	2,323,475	351,750
Delaware	$5,203,436,692	$482,969,430	130,918	430,391	90,275
District Of Columbia	$3,564,562,914	$330,853,438	84,663	585,442	61,842
Florida	$45,547,983,519	$4,227,645,105	1,491,664	2,973,208	790,214
Georgia	$23,949,097,962	$2,222,892,847	565,486	1,734,028	415,494
Hawaii	$2,684,374,812	$249,156,673	83,154	414,805	46,571
Idaho	$2,256,444,723	$209,437,318	57,727	173,422	39,147
Illinois	$44,954,369,661	$4,172,547,414	1,742,984	5,548,779	779,915
Indiana	$12,641,014,850	$1,173,306,048	347,557	1,115,174	219,310
Iowa	$6,285,871,426	$583,438,201	174,609	656,480	109,054
Kansas	$6,550,676,257	$608,016,695	194,442	625,933	113,648
Kentucky	$6,374,419,529	$591,657,005	163,090	476,204	110,590
Louisiana	$6,320,489,766	$586,651,385	175,017	425,029	109,654
Maine	$2,234,669,875	$207,416,233	65,289	318,453	38,769
Maryland	$16,089,938,109	$1,493,426,115	293,280	1,386,448	279,145
Massachusetts	$23,458,507,116	$2,177,357,484	652,585	3,394,801	406,983
Michigan	$22,060,228,423	$2,047,572,900	769,874	2,877,761	382,724
Minnesota	$19,937,524,460	$1,850,549,051	532,341	2,124,157	345,897
Mississippi	$3,230,426,317	$299,839,750	67,439	221,964	56,045
Missouri	$12,659,906,533	$1,175,059,525	441,216	1,025,867	219,637
Montana	$1,271,395,719	$118,007,637	21,218	128,410	22,058
Nebraska	$5,969,291,903	$554,054,115	152,532	521,200	103,562
Nevada	$7,437,064,010	$690,288,896	158,227	626,843	129,026
New Hampshire	$3,394,497,687	$315,068,427	83,191	439,614	58,891
New Jersey	$37,921,624,361	$3,519,786,327	323,212	4,926,940	657,904
New Mexico	$2,527,082,441	$234,557,205	62,662	366,883	43,842
New York	$74,475,511,189	$6,912,622,821	1,274,785	12,941,869	1,292,079
North Carolina	$22,471,940,801	$2,085,786,970	446,702	1,654,730	389,867
North Dakota	$1,001,769,994	$92,981,680	28,574	80,616	17,380
Ohio	$29,119,183,005	$2,702,766,664	957,973	3,026,942	505,190
Oklahoma	$12,610,189,109	$1,170,444,883	580,454	974,037	218,775
Oregon	$6,685,630,730	$620,542,818	126,248	583,314	115,989
Pennsylvania	$31,656,609,517	$2,938,283,979	725,689	3,533,713	549,212
Rhode Island	$3,323,978,696	$308,523,038	105,164	525,348	57,668
South Carolina	$6,084,583,812	$564,755,209	302,717	409,821	105,562
South Dakota	$1,262,616,503	$117,192,773	46,154	113,690	21,905
Tennessee	$12,800,289,098	$1,188,089,469	247,982	879,677	222,073
Texas	$67,903,722,975	$6,302,646,569	1,439,263	4,799,737	1,178,065
Utah	$4,453,833,831	$413,393,247	141,254	505,666	77,270
Vermont	$1,207,123,243	$112,042,033	36,750	167,553	20,942
Virginia	$22,485,731,764	$2,087,067,011	584,403	1,722,667	390,106
Washington	$18,852,200,450	$1,749,812,106	277,585	1,558,780	327,068
West Virginia	$2,267,160,311	$210,431,911	66,146	184,967	39,333
Wisconsin	$13,240,475,858	$1,228,946,457	792,357	1,498,886	229,710
Wyoming	$1,424,982,426	$132,263,154	36,011	140,010	24,722

¹Previous NPP analyses have attributed 80% unspecified war funding to operations in Iraq and 20% to operations in Afghanistan. In light of the 8.5% troop level reduction announced thus far for Iraq in 2009 and the 55% troop level increase announced thus far for Afghanistan in 2009, we have made new estimates of approximately 70% funding to Iraq and 30% to Afghanistan.

²Total war funding to date includes all approved funds for Afghanistan since FY2001 plus all approved funds for Iraq since FY2003. See CRS Report RL33110, October 2008 [2].

³Of the $83.4 billion requested by the President for FY2009 supplemental spending, NPP analyses show that $77.1billion is for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This includes Department of Defense provisions including Military Personnel, Operations & Maintenance, Procurement, and Military Construction; Department of State provisions including Diplomatic and Consular Programs and Economic Support; and Department of Justice provisions.