U.S. At War: Big, Big Money

Senator Harry Byrd, the apple-cheeked Virginia apple grower who has staked his political future on his reputation as a pinchfist, last week unloosed a new array of figures. Congress has appropriated and authorized $205 billions for war. Of this incomprehensible vastness, about $163 billions have not been spent. At the present spending rate ($4,494,000,000 in July), the fallow $163 billions will take two years to spend. His point: Congress stands to lose control of spending, because the unspent balances amount to blanket appropriations; taking into account taxes, war appropriations and non-defense spending, it is inevitable that the Federal debt will rise...

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