Bill Requires Reports on How Much Military Spends on Mideast Wars

Congress wants every taxpayer to know how much they're spending on wars in the Middle East, Military Times reported. 

According to the outlet, a provision in the defense authorization bill expected to be signed into law will require the secretary of defense and IRS commissioner to post all those costs online.

"It’s important for people to know how much we’re spending on wars," said Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis, who's been pushing for the provision for three years, Military Times reported. “It’s my hope that people will make contact with their elected representatives and say we should spend more on peace, less on violence and war. "

The latest estimates from the Defense Department for the fight against ISIS are about $12.5 million a day, and close to $10.5 billion since 2014, the outlet reported; congressional estimates put the cost of fighting in Iraq at more than $800 billion from 2003 to 2011, and at $700 billion since 2001 for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.

Outside analysts have pegged the costs at more than $5 trillion, Military Times reported.

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