Military Funding: the Newest Version of Chicken
If Congress fails to pass a bill I can sign by mid-April, the Army will be forced to consider cutting back on equipment, equipment repair, and quality-of-life initiatives for our Guard and Reserve forces. These cuts would be necessary because the money will have to be shifted to support the troops on the front lines.
–President Bush, April 3.
Democrats will send President Bush a bill that gives our troops the resources they need and a strategy in Iraq worthy of their sacrifices. If the president vetoes this bill he will have delayed funding for troops and kept in place his strategy for failure.
–Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, April 3
The Democrats, it seems to me, prevent money from getting to the troops at their own peril.
–Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, March 27.
Our troops are literally running out of money.
–Rep. Jim Cooper, Democrat of Tennessee, March 28.
It's being called a game of chicken. On one side of the war funding debate, Democrats in the House and Senate have passed legislation that would set up a timetable to withdraw American troops from Iraq–in the House, by September 2008 and in the Senate by the end of March 2008. They still need to work out some internal kinks, but the message is clear: Democrats have a timeline for withdrawal. Too bad, says President Bush. He'll veto the bill, saying it hamstrings troops in Iraq and his "surge" plan. Each side is racing to claim it's the one supporting the troops, and the funds going to the military are, well, caught in the middle. Beneath the rhetoric, though, there are some important questions about the appropriations process that we've tried to outline below:
Why does the Pentagon need a supplemental appropriations bill in the first place?
Congress frequently considers supplemental appropriations bills to provide additional money for a specific reason or provide new money for an unforeseen problem (hurricane and earthquake relief, for example). There is usually at least one supplemental appropriations bill in each session of Congress.
In addition to the regular Defense Department budget requests, the administration has submitted a supplemental funding bill in each of the past six years to fight against terrorism and for war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
When does the Army say it'll run out of money?
The Army has a fair degree of wiggle room in the budget to finance military operations, but military officials have outlined deadlines of April 15 and May 15 before the services would have to alter their spending and training programs.
On March 22, in a press briefing, Defense Secretary Robert Gates explained the military's timetable:
For example, according to the Army, which went through this experience last year, if the supplemental is not passed by April 15, the service will be forced to consider the following kinds of actions: one, curtailing and suspending home station training for Reserve and Guard units; two, slowing the training of units slated to deploy next to Iraq and Afghanistan; three, cutting the funding for the upgrade or renovation of barracks and other facilities that support quality of life for troops and their families; and fourth, stopping the repair of equipment necessary to support pre-deployment training. If the supplemental is not passed by May 15, the Army will be forced to consider the following: one, reducing the repair work being done at Army depots; two, delaying or curtailing the deployment of brigade combat teams to their training rotations; three, this, in turn, will cause additional units in theater to have their tours extended because other units are not ready to take their place; four, delaying the formation of new brigade combat teams; five, implementation of a civilian hiring freeze; sixth, prohibiting the execution of new contracts and service orders, including service contracts for training events and facilities; and seventh, holding or canceling the order of repair parts to nondeployed units in the Army.
advertisement
