U.S. House approves $266M for AFRICOM

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U.S. House approves $266M for AFRICOM
By Kent Harris, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, September 26, 2008

U.S. Africa Command, which will debut next week, might have about $123 million less to spend on its programs than it asked for.

As part of the Fiscal 2009 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs bill, the House of Representatives voted Wednesday to provide $266 million to AFRICOM. President Bush had requested $389 million to fund AFRICOM in its first year of operation.

"The money that is in the president’s request is the amount that U.S. AFRICOM considers appropriate to manage the many programs we have inherited …" said Vince Crawley, a press officer for AFRICOM in Stuttgart, Germany.

But Crawley said it’s Congress’ role to determine appropriations, and the U.S. military’s role to work with what it receives.

The good news for AFRICOM is that the money designated this week is significantly more than the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense initially recommended. That committee had recommended an initial budget of $80.6 million.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57671