What can $87 billion buy?
(excepts from TomPaine.com

On September 7th, President Bush asked Congress for an additional $87 billion for the war in Iraq, acknowledging that the engagement in Iraq is going to cost many hundreds of billions of dollars. This was a surprise considering that prior to the war, the administration dismissed such estimates, and even fired its top economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, for suggesting those estimates were correct. To get some perspective, here are some real-life comparisons about what $87 billion means.

$87b Is More Than The Combined Total Of All State Budget Deficits In The United States

$87b Is Rougly The Total Of Two Years Worth Of All U.S. Unemployment Benefits

$87b Is Enough To Pay The 3.3 Million People Who Have Lost Jobs $26,363 Each

$87b Is More Than Double The Total Amount The Government Spends On Homeland Security

$87b Is 7 Times What The Government Spends On Title I For Low-Income Schools

$87b Is 87 Times The Amount The Federal Government Spends On After School Programs

$87b Is About 9 Times What The Federal Government Spends On Special Education

$87b Is More Than 10 Times What The Government Spends On All Environmental Protection

$87b Is 8 Times The Total For Pell Grants -- The Major College Program In The U.S.

$87b Is More Than The Total Cost Of The First 3 Years Of The Medicare Pres. Drug Proposal

$87b Is Enough To Give Every Man, Woman And Child In America $300

"[We] want to control spending. And I hope Congress lives up to their words. When they talk about deficits, they can join us in making sure we don't overspend. They can join us and make sure that [they are] focused those items that are absolutely necessary to the American people." - President Bush, Jan. 6, 2003

Making Hallibuton richer is not necessary to the people. Health care is.