Brett Wilkins is a San Francisco-based freelance author and editor-at-large for US news at Digital Journal. His work, which focuses on issues of war and peace and human rights, is archived at www.brettwilkins.com.
Lawmakers question the scale, legality, and strategy of a massive funding request as troop deployments expand and the conflict shows signs of escalation.
The proposal would make revenue increases extraordinarily difficult while allowing tax cuts to pass more easily, shifting pressure onto widely used federal programs.
Internal layoffs removed the very officials who would have modeled oil supply disruptions, coordinated with Gulf energy partners, and prepared for retaliatory strikes as war with Iran drove gas and crude prices sharply higher.