CQ: Obama to Raise Military Budget 8%

If this is true, Fox got it wrong and I got it wrong:

The Obama administration has given the Pentagon a $527 billion limit, excluding war costs, for its fiscal 2010 defense budget, an Office of Management and Budget official said Monday.

If enacted, that would be about a $14 billion increase above the $513 billion allocated for fiscal 2009 (PL 110-329), including military construction funds, and it would match what the Bush administration estimated last year for the Pentagon in fiscal 2010. But it sets up a potential conflict between the new administration and the Defense Department’s entrenched bureaucracy, which has remained largely intact through the presidential transition.

Some Pentagon officials and congressional conservatives are already trying to portray the OMB number as a cut by comparing it to a $584 billion draft fiscal 2010 budget request compiled last fall by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The $527 billion figure is “what the Bush people thought was the right number last February and that’s the number we’re going with,” said the OMB official, who declined to be identified. “The Joint Chiefs did that to lay down a marker for the incoming administration that was unrealistic. It’s more of a wish list than anything else.”

I agree with Ed on this one, if Fox is playing that stupid game of of fudging numbers to make it look like a reduction when in fact it's an increase then they should be called out for it. That's what liberals do for crying out loud.

That is an increase in line with what Bush wanted and is a good number. I'm sure Gates is pleased as we'll be drawing down in Iraq but most-likely gearing up in Afghanistan so the money is needed.

I stand corrected if this is the case.