Supplemental

The White House is expected to announce Thursday that it will seek an additional $83.4 billion in supplemental war and diplomatic spending, a senior Senate Democratic leadership aide tells Fox.

The vast majority of the bill, which goes directly to the deficit outside of the budget process, is for the Pentagon, $75 billion largely for the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the aide said.

The remainder is for non-war spending, like ongoing diplomatic efforts, such as those in Pakistan.
It is expected that some kind of emergency funding will also be included for floods in North Dakota and other unexpected disasters from weather-related events.

Supplementals are traditionally ripe vehicles for controversy. Republicans are expected to take up their opposition to President Obama's announced policy of closing Guantanamo Bay terrorist prison facility on this bill, something they would try to do by amendment, according to one senior Senate GOP leadership aide. The outlines of the GOP plan are still coming together.

Democrats are not all expected to line up behind President Obama in support of the request.  Many members of the "Our of Iraq" caucus have voiced deep concern about a buildup of troops in Afghanistan, as well as a residual fighting force left in Iraq after 2011.

The White House has told Congressional aides that it intends to bring all Pentagon funding into the budget starting in fiscal 2010, which starts at the beginning of October, this according to several aides, both Republican and Democrat, who have been briefed on the supplemental spending request due out Thursday.

Democrats, and some fiscal hawk Republicans, have long criticized the previous Administration for using supplementals to fund wars, saying the vast majority of the spending is not emergency in nature. The practice is controversial, because all supplemental funding directly increases the deficit, with no spending cuts or tax increases as an offset.

The House of Representatives is expected to go first, as it does with the vast majority of spending bills, per the Constitution.

The aide said an announcement is expected some time Thursday from the Administration.