The National Priorities Project has released a new analysis showing that President Barack Obama’s recent request for $83.4 billion for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars could be better spent funding social programs in Michigan.
According to the analysis, $22,060,228,423 from Michigan has been spent thus far to finance the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama’s recent request will add $2,047,572,900 to that total (a long with another $40.3 million from Grand Rapids).
That $2 billion is enough to provide:
- 769,874 people with health insurance for one year
- 2,877,761 homes with renewable electricity for one year
- 382,724 students with maximum Pell Grants ($5350)
To date, the cost of war that has been approved by Congress is $830.2 billion with $657.3 billion to Iraq and $172.9 billion to Afghanistan. The $77.1 billion from the supplemental request brings total war spending to $907.3 billion dollars since 2001.
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