CHAIRMEN

BILL FRENZEL
Paying for Afghanistan Should Move Beyond Playing Politics
TIM PENNY
CHARLIE STENHOLM December 2, 2009

PRESIDENT Last night, President Obama announced a plan to increase troop levels in
MAYA MACGUINEAS
Afghanistan by 30,000 – a change which would cost tens of billions of
DIRECTORS dollars per year. A number of Democrats opposed to this troop build up
BARRY ANDERSON have called for a surtax to fund those operations. While politics, as opposed
ROY ASH
to fiscal responsibility, may be the impetus for the proposal, the idea of
CHARLES BOWSHER
STEVE COLL paying for the plan should not be dismissed.
DAN CRIPPEN
VIC FAZIO
WILLIS GRADISON
“Asking policymakers to actually pay for their policy actions should not be
WILLIAM GRAY, III such a radical concept,” said Maya MacGuineas, President of the
WILLIAM HOAGLAND Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “An essential aspect of
DOUGLAS HOLTZ-EAKIN
JIM JONES
budgeting is deciding how to pay for things.”
LOU KERR
JIM KOLBE The 2010 budget deficit is expected to top $1 trillion. Meanwhile, $944
JAMES LYNN
JAMES MCINTYRE, JR. billion has already been appropriated for military operations in Iraq and
DAVID MINGE Afghanistan, and other war-related activities, including $154 billion in
JIM NUSSLE
FY2009. The troop increase is estimated to cost around $30 billion this year.
MARNE OBERNAUER, JR.
JUNE O’NEILL
RUDOLPH PENNER Deficit financing the wars thus far has not only broken practice with past
PETER PETERSON
wars, which have been paid for in part with new taxes, it has added
ROBERT REISCHAUER
ALICE RIVLIN tremendously to the national debt — now over $12 trillion. Responsible
MARTIN SABO leadership requires offsetting the new costs through spending cuts, tax
GENE STEUERLE
DAVID STOCKMAN
increases, or a combination of the two.
PAUL VOLCKER
CAROL COX WAIT “Deeming a particular initiative as vital to the national interest should not
DAVID M. WALKER
JOSEPH WRIGHT, JR.
exempt it from being paid for,” said MacGuineas. “The purpose of having a
federal budget is to induce the President and Congress to make difficult
SENIOR ADVISORS choices and prioritize their objectives. That discipline has been lost in
ELMER STAATS
ROBERT STRAUSS
recent years and must be regained. Perhaps requiring the Afghanistan
troop build up to be paid for will encourage leaders to find excesses
elsewhere in the budget that can be curbed or eliminated.”

1899 L Street NW • Suite 400 • Washington, DC 20036 • Phone: 202-986-2700 • Fax: 202-986-3696 • www.crfb.org