The White House on Friday sent Congress a detailed request for $70 billion in fiscal 2009 war funding that lawmakers are expected to include in the pending war supplemental spending bill.

The primary purpose of the supplemental is to provide the funding needed to carry out military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the remainder of fiscal 2008, which ends Sept. 30.

But in the fiscal 2009 budget request he submitted in February, President Bush included a $70 billion placeholder request for war operations in fiscal 2009, enough to fund activities into next spring. That request did not include any details.

Democrats at this point plan to combine the early 2009 funding with the fiscal 2008 supplemental spending. If they do so, Congress will not have to revisit the war funding issue again during the Bush administration.

In an interview earlier this week, Stephen S. McMillin, deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said administration officials have been working with the Appropriations committees in both chambers on the specifics of how the fiscal 2009 funding should be provided.

“Last year they had to be pushed and cajoled into providing that bridge funding, so we see it as a positive thing that they are looking to address that earlier rather than later,” he said.

The House Appropriations Committee reacted to the White House’s submission of its detailed bridge fund request by indicating that they may have their own ideas on how that money should be spent.

“We always appreciate input from the White House,” said Kirstin Brost, spokesperson for Appropriations Chairman David R. Obey, D-Wis.

The formal request sent to Congress on Friday seeks $66 billion for the Pentagon, with the other $4 billion set aside for the State Department.

Within those totals, the White House requested:

• $45.1 billion for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan;

• $3.7 billion to expand the size of the Afghan security forces and $2 billion for Iraqi security forces;

• $3 billion to develop improved methods to combat roadside bombs;

• $3 billion for classified activities;

• $2.6 billion to transport and maintain Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles in theater;

• $2.5 billion for ongoing Global War on Terror activities;

• $2.2 billion for fuel costs;

• $1.7 billion for the Commander’s Emergency Response Program, which allows the U.S. military to contribute to various projects in Iraq and Afghanistan on a case-by-case basis; and

• $1.3 billion to fund acquisition of 28 additional Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and support systems to enhance protection of U.S. and coalition forces.

In a statement Bush said the new request also would provide “the necessary resources for selected other international activities that advance our national security, including food assistance to address the global food crisis.”

Democratic leaders are wrestling with how to handle the $108.1 billion remaining in Bush’s fiscal 2008 war request that the White House says is needed by Memorial Day.

Bush has threatened to veto any bill that exceeds his request, but Democrats want to include at least some funding for their domestic priorities, such as an extension of unemployment compensation beyond the normal 26 weeks and expanded GI Bill education benefits for veterans.

Democratic leaders from both chambers have been meeting behind closed doors trying to craft a bill that can first make it through Congress and then, they hope, avoid a veto.

“Our goal is to move a supplemental as soon as we can, a supplemental that the president can sign,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters Thursday. “That is the goal.”

Josh Rogin contributed to this story