WASHINGTON—U.S. President George W. Bush will seek $515.4 billion for the Pentagon for fiscal 2009, up 7.5 percent from the funds Congress approved for 2008, according to Pentagon documents obtained by Reuters on Friday.
In his final budget request on Monday, Bush also will ask Congress for $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the documents show.
The budget request will include $183.8 billion to modernize the military and $20.5 billion to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps—the two services most strained by Iraq and Afghanistan.
