Congress is dawdling in providing funds needed to finance the Department of Defense (DoD) and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and military officials have run out of moves to stave off a fiscal crunch by shuffling money among accounts, President Bush said yesterday at the Pentagon.
“No more money can be moved” among accounts, after earlier funding shifts, Bush said.
But Democrats said they have attempted to provide defense funding, but the president opposes provisions contained in those bills.
Therefore, he said, it will be necessary to take steps, which were announced earlier, to lay off Army and Marine Corps civilian defense employees, terminate contracts, and cut operations on U.S. military bases, unless Congress acts promptly to pass DoD funding legislation before lawmakers leave on their holiday break, Bush said.
No date has been set for the recess to begin. Once lawmakers leave, they won’t return until January.
While Democrats in Congress say Bush and defense leaders are engaging in scare tactics to pressure Congress into passing funding that he wants, Bush said that this is the only way to ensure that funding continues for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and other Pentagon leaders, in planning for layoffs and other actions, are merely taking sober precautions, “contingency steps” based on the “need to plan prudently should those funds not be forthcoming,” Bush said.
DoD should be funded as it fulfills its responsibility, “protecting the American people,” he said.
“Missions of this department are essential to saving Americans’ lives,” Bush said, “and they are too important to be disrupted, or delayed, or put at risk.”
The issue is additional funding to fight the wars. “The military has waited on these funds for months,” Bush said.
If Congress doesn’t pass the legislation for additional funding, it “will soon begin to have a damaging impact on operations of this department,” Bush said.
The president lashed out at lawmakers in the Democratic-led Congress for creating “needless uncertainty for those defending out country, and uncertainty for their families.”
Failure to pass the money measure would “undermine our troops in Iraq just as they’re seeing clear signs of success,” he asserted.
So Congress should “give them what they need to succeed in their missions, without strings and without delay.”
That referred to a long dispute between some lawmakers and Bush, with lawmakers wanting to set a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq, such as by the end of 2008, with Bush opposing any timetable as aiding the enemy.
Bush’s attack on Congress was countered with top lawmakers assailing him for his stance on defense funding.
One retort came from Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate Democratic leader, who said Bush has adopted a position of my-way-or-the-highway.
“The president demands more money to continue his failed war policy, yet he and his enablers in Congress have rejected our proposal for an additional $50 billion provided they work with us to change course in Iraq,” Reid complained. “He cannot have it both ways.” Some Democrats wish to end the war and withdraw U.S. troops.
Reid pledged that Democrats in Congress won’t permit combat operations to halt for lack of funds.
“Democrats have and will continue to ensure our troops have the resources they need to do their jobs and will continue to fight for a war strategy worthy of their sacrifices.”
A similar response came from the other side of Capitol Hill, from Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee defense subcommittee.
He lambasted the Bush plan to shut down some defense operations if Congress doesn’t pass legislation written as Bush wishes.
“By threatening to close military child care centers and counseling services, the president is using our military families as a wedge,” Murtha said in a statement.
Murtha also criticized Bush’s assertion that congressional inaction will harm military readiness.