The president will ask Congress to approve $245 billion in additional funds for “military and diplomatic operations” in Iraq and Afghanistan over the next two years when he submits his budget on Monday. We’re guessing not much of that would actually be spent on diplomacy.

AP:

Keeping troops in Iraq for another year and a half will cost nearly a quarter-trillion dollars – about $800 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. – under the budget President Bush will submit to Congress Monday.

Bush will ask for $100 billion more for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year and seek $145 billion for 2008, a senior Pentagon official said Friday. Those requests come on top of about $344 billion spent for Iraq since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

At the same time, Bush’s budget request will propose cost curbs on Medicare providers, a cap on subsidy payments to wealthier farmers and an increase to $4,600 in the maximum Pell Grant for low-income college students.

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