Are They Handling Your Money Above Board?

Admittedly, this is just an editorial - I haven't yet tried to hunt down corroborative stories. But I ask you, if there is truth to this, what does this say about those handling the purse strings in Washington? They have a precise 74.7 billion figure they are asking for five days into the conflict, after hemming and hawwing about how unknowable the cost of the war would be. They've evidently tacked on bills to pay for other things like help to the "coalition of the willing". This is in addition to the amount asked for in the budget, as I understand it - there are no proposals extant to pay for this 75 billion, and so it will add to the already scary deficit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21766-2003Mar24.html