Standoff on war budget sours further
An increasingly bitter dispute between the Bush administration and Congress over war funding took an acrimonious turn Tuesday as Pentagon officials advanced plans to lay off 200,000 civilians because of budget shortfalls, prompting Democratic charges of fear-mongering.
President Bush requested $196 billion for war funding in 2008, which would make it the most expensive year to date. House Democrats last week countered with a bill providing partial funding tied to troop withdrawal goals. But political squabbling over the measure stalled passage in the Senate, and Congress left town for its two-week Thanksgiving vacation without approving new funding.
Seizing on the congressional stalemate, the White House has accused Democrats of failing to support soldiers and their families. As part of the offensive, the Pentagon announced Tuesday that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates had ordered the Army and Marine Corps to begin planning for a near shutdown of bases early next year in anticipation of funds drying up.
In addition, Gates informed Congress that he intended to borrow $4.5 billion -- most of it from the payroll of the Air Force and Navy -- to fund the work of a roadside bomb task force into January. The head of the task force insisted that without an infusion of cash from Congress, the group would be forced to a standstill.
Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said: “These are highly regrettable but entirely avoidable measures that we have to take due to Congress’ inaction.”
Morrell acknowledged that a war funding crisis was months away. By the Pentagon’s estimates, the Army has enough funding to last until mid-February, and the Marines through mid-March.
But Morrell said that Democratic provisions on troop withdrawals were forcing Gates to act because they threatened a protracted funding battle that could last months. Bush has threatened to veto any funding bill that contains policy prescriptions.
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), a leading war critic and chairman of the House subcommittee responsible for Pentagon appropriations, said the Defense Department did not need to take the drastic steps outlined by Gates and other Bush administration officials.
“They’re scaring people,” Murtha said. “They’re scaring the families of the troops.”
The fight is reminiscent of last spring’s battle over war funding, in which Democrats eventually backed down after a similar game of brinkmanship, giving Bush the money he requested without policy demands.
A difference in the current standoff is the increasing involvement of the Pentagon’s civilian leadership in the political debate. Besides the public appeal by Gates and warnings of imminent furloughs by Morrell, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England has written to Democratic leaders to urge passage of funding.
Even the outgoing head of the military’s Joint IED Defeat Organization -- a task force that develops anti-bomb technology -- has gone public with complaints. Montgomery C. Meigs, a retired Army general, warned this week that the funding shortage would force a halt to the group’s activities.
“I will no longer be able to fund any new initiatives or new projects,” Meigs said Monday in a rare briefing with reporters. “What I cannot fund today will not go into the field next summer or fall.”
Murtha upbraided the Pentagon for such tactics, suggesting Defense officials were exaggerating to pressure Democratic lawmakers and likened them to the administration’s former Defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld. He accused Gates of resorting to “Rumsfeld-like” maneuvers.
“Because the Pentagon says it, you believe it? You believe what the Pentagon says?” Murtha asked reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference. “All the things that they have told us: ‘Mission accomplished,’ ‘Al Qaeda connection,’ ‘weapons of mass destruction,’ on and on and on. And you believe the Pentagon?”
Bush’s request for $196 billion would fund the wars through the 2008 fiscal year, which began in October. House Democrats passed a measure with $50 billion worth of funding and provisions calling for the removal of combat troops from Iraq by the end of next year. The same measure failed by seven votes in the Senate.
Congress passed a separate $471-billion Defense Department budget, but that measure did not include the war costs.
julian.barnes@latimes.com
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