President Obama breaks emergency war spending pledge

image
Published: 24 May, 2010
Updated: 13 Oct, 2022
1 min read

Following in the footsteps of George W. Bush, President Obama has requested another $33 billion of "emergency", off-budget spending on the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. 

As a presidential candidate, Obama often criticized President Bush's chronic use of supplemental war spending bills, which added to the national debt.  In February 2009, President Obama told Congress, "For seven years, we have been a nation at war.  We will no longer hide its price."  In April 2009, Obama requested tens of billions more in supplemental funding for the wars, but wrote House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, "This is the last planned war supplemental."

Republicans and Democrats are haggling over how to pay for the off-budget war spending increase, but the bill is likely to pass as US troops continue operations in both war theaters.

Much like Obama's failed promise to shut down Guantanamo Bay in one year, his pledge to end supplemental war spending bills, which further exacerbate the budget deficit and national debt, has been broken. 

When it comes to war policy, it would appear that Obama's record spending, preservation of the status quo on civil liberties, and expansion of the War on Terror into Pakistan and Yemen make it difficult to distinguish his platform from that of his much-maligned predecessor.

Latest articles

Tyson points at Trump with a marijuana leaf behind him.
Mike Tyson Calls Out Donald Trump to Make Good on Cannabis Rescheduling Promise
Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight boxing champion known as “Iron Mike,” is calling on President Donald Trump to make good on a campaign promise to reclassify cannabis under federal law....
11 Jul, 2025
-
2 min read
Football in grass.
Texas, Football, Bobcats, Pac-12, and a Corrections Officer Who Performed a Miracle
Houston Chronicle and Hearst Newspapers Spotlight Kelly Damphousse, a Former Correctional Officer Who Transformed a University....
10 Jul, 2025
-
4 min read
Lorena Gonzalez with teamsters
Lorena Gonzalez, California’s Top Labor Leader, Blasts ‘Anti-Labor Left’ Over Abundance Movement
Lorena Gonzalez, one of California’s most influential labor leaders, entered the fray this week in a growing Democratic debate over the so-called “abundance” movement. ...
09 Jul, 2025
-
2 min read