Senate Begins Debating FY ’10 War Supplemental

By Emelie Rutherford

The Senate began considering yesterday a supplemental bill with $33.45 billion in war funding for the Pentagon, though the timing of a final vote was unknown amid Republican concerns about procedural aspects of the legislation.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has complained that the fiscal year 2010 “emergency” supplemental, which totals $58.8 billion when including non-defense funding, evades rules that lawmakers cover new spending with corresponding funding cuts. He is expected to offer at least one amendment regarding such spending offsets; his actions are expected to extend debate on the supplemental over several days this week.

“Congress’ failure to pay for war supplemental bills in the past in no way justifies a similar failure today,” Coburn said in a statement, adding it is time for Congress to “pass a bill that is paid for.”

Defense Secretary Robert Gates had wanted Congress to pass the already delayed supplemental by the end of the month. Congress is set to start a week-long Memorial Day recess on Saturday that will extend into June.

Much of the war portion of the supplemental, for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq through the end of FY ’10 on Sept. 30, is intended to fund the surge of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.

In addition to Republicans concerned about the financial aspects of the supplemental, the measure also faces resistance from anti-war Democrats in the House. In an unusual move, the Senate is considering the supplemental before the House does. The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up its version of the supplemental this Thursday at 5 p.m.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) yesterday decried procedural moves slowing the supplemental’s passage in the Senate.

“I believe we will poorly serve our men and women in the field if we allow internal tactical battles to unduly delay delivery of a bill to the president, or if we burden this bill with other costs or legislative matters that are unrelated and controversial,” Cochran said on the Senate floor.

The Senate’s version of the supplemental includes $4.9 billion for Pentagon procurement, including $1.1 billion for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles and $85 million for five MC-12 Liberty aircraft for the Air Force.

The Senate calls for additional funding, atop to the White House’s proposal, for items including Navy and Army helicopters (to replace battle losses), ballistic protection kits for Army helicopters, and Army biometric identification tools.

The Senate’s version of the supplemental includes more than $500 million in defense procurement above what was in the White House proposal.

President Barack Obama had pledged to stop funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through such emergency supplemental spending bills. Administration officials said this supplemental is the last planned one, and starting in FY ’11 they expect most or all war funding to be requested of Congress once a year with the base Pentagon budget request.

The Obama administration “strongly supports Senate passage” of the supplemental before it, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget said yesterday in its official Statement of Administration Policy on the legislation.