Congress awaits Thursday delivery of two supplemental funding requests

The White House is preparing to send to Congress Thursday supplemental funding requests of roughly $72 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and foreign assistance, and an additional $20 billion for post-hurricane Gulf Coast rebuilding costs, congressional aides said Wednesday.

Both requests are slightly higher than what the White House told Congress last week to expect, though Office of Management and Budget Director Joshua Bolten said the numbers were not set. The war spending supplement is dominated by operations and maintenance funds to support troops, as well as up to $20 billion for procurement of equipment.

As much as $10 billion to $12 billion also might be included to train and equip Iraqi and Afghan police and security forces, doubling what was provided in supplemental appropriations last year.

The war funding request is expected to contain $2 billion to $3 billion in foreign assistance, including about $1 billion for Iraq rebuilding costs on top of $770 million in the White House's regular fiscal 2007 budget request.

Congress provided $18.4 billion in Iraq rebuilding assistance in fiscal 2004, which got off to a slow start but the State Department has picked up the pace in spending. As of Dec. 28, all but about $3.2 billion of the Iraq reconstruction fund had been obligated, the agency reported last month.

Aides said the request is expected to contain substantial sums for the African Union peacekeeping effort in Sudan and aid to Pakistan, a key ally in the war on terrorism. About $75 million is included for democracy-building in Iran, Secretary of State Rice announced at a Senate hearing Wednesday.

Absent from the request will be aid to Israel, sources said, after months of discussions of an aid package in the $1 billion to $2 billion range to assist with the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

The $20 billion Katrina package will build on last year's $60 billion-plus emergency funding for Gulf Coast relief and recovery projects. Before that request is sent, Congress will have to deal with an embarrassing shortfall at the Small Business Administration's disaster loan fund.

The agency asked for $1.1 billion last week on top of $441 million appropriated last year to make it through July. Congress agreed to reprogram $100 million of that from existing funds late last week to prevent a Monday funding shutdown. Still, the agency has only enough funds to make it through Feb. 25.

"It's sad that Congress has to intervene to ensure hurricane victims are not left without a safety net thanks to the administration's piecemeal and paltry approach to disaster recovery," said Senate Small Business ranking member John Kerry, D-Mass.

The House is expected to pass legislation to reallocate $712 million, enough to get through April, to the SBA from within the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund, with the Senate expected to clear the measure later.

The $20 billion Katrina supplemental request might contain up to $600 million more for the SBA to get through the end of the fiscal year.