“With the resources it takes to execute just over three months of the Iraq war, we could fully fund the expansion of health care for…
Dodd off by $5 billion on guns and butter
Sen. Christopher Dodd says that the cost of the Iraq war for three months equals the cost the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program that President Bush vetoed on Oct. 3, 2007.
The Congressional Research Service reported in July 2007 that the cost of the war in Iraq for the first half of the budget year 2007 is estimated to be about $10 billion a month. Three months of the war would cost $30 billion.
The expansion if SCHIP is estimated to cost $35 billion over five years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
So, SCHIP costs $5 billion more than three months of the war. To most of us, $5 billion is big bucks. In Washington, it’s not.
Our Sources
Chris Dodd campaign web site blog, SCHIP Veto, Oct. 3, 2007.
CRS Report for Congress, The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11, July 16, 2007.
Committee on Energy and Commerce staff, CHIP Summary by Section, Sept. 24, 2007.
