It's not official, but DefSec Gates has sent Congress an estimate of what he thinks the Pentagon will request to round out FY 2009 war funding. His "personal assessment" comes in at just under $70 billion, which is somewhat less than the $83 billion he mentioned in December.

In response a requrest from the Senate Budget Committee, CBO has a issued a report on contractors working in Iraq. From 2003 to 2007, the federal government awarded over $85 billion in contracts, and with a burn rate of $17-21 billion per year, it's likely that $100 has been doled out to private contractors since the start of the war.

President Bush signed into law today a $257 billion supplemental spending package that will fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan several months into the next president's term and a host of domestic programs. Bush's signature on the bill comes days after the Senate passed the measure Thursday night.

The package appropriates some $162 billion dollars for the wars; $62.8 billion for an expanded GI bill; $8.2 billion for a 13-week unemployment insurance benefit extension; and a bevy of other domestic discretionary spending provisions.

Yesterday evening (Thurs.), the House approved a pair of amendments to the war supplemental spending bill that would found the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and would provide funding for exetended unemployment benefits, expanded GI bill benefits, and a host other domestic spending provisions.