Pentagon Warns of Civilian Layoffs If Congress Delays War Funding

Democrats Are Firm on Link to Troop Withdrawals From Iraq

By Jonathan Weisman and Ann Scott Tyson Washington Post

The Defense Department warned yesterday that as many as 200,000 contractors and civilian employees will begin receiving layoff warnings by Christmas unless Congress acts on President Bush’s $196 billion war request, but senior Democrats said no war funds will be approved until Bush accepts a shift in his Iraq policy.

Skirmishing over war funding has continued for nearly a year, but the White House and Congress appear ready to push toward a showdown in the coming weeks. Democratic leaders are convinced that Congress’s abysmal approval ratings stem in large part from its inability to force Bush to change his approach in Iraq. But with violence declining in Iraq, Republicans believe they are in an even stronger position to stay the course.

“We are calling on Congress and the Democrats in Congress to send the president supplemental war funding without arbitrary surrender dates and without micromanaging the war before they leave for their next vacation,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that controls defense funding, said the country owes troops “more than just a debt of gratitude. We owe them and their families a new way, a way that leads home.”

Now that Congress has approved a huge base budget for the Pentagon of $459 billion, from which funds can be shifted for various needs, Democrats can rightfully assert that there is no immediate funding crisis, said Cindy Williams, a former head of the Congressional Budget Office’s national security division. The Pentagon can borrow billions of dollars slated to be spent at the end of the current fiscal year to pay for operations now, she said.

But with the cost of the Iraq war soaring, fund transfers this winter could be huge, and disruptions would be inevitable. With Democrats saying that future funds will have policy strings attached, “both sides are playing a big game of chicken here,” she said.

“The money has already been provided by the House of Representatives. If the president wants that $50 billion released, all he has to do is call the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, and ask him to stop blocking it,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) also blamed Republicans for any lack of money for the war.

The Pentagon, therefore, has started planning for the possibility that the Army and the Marine Corps will exhaust their operations and maintenance budgets. In the past two weeks, those budgets have been used to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which cost about $10.5 billion a month.

Under current budget rules, the Defense Department can shuffle only $3.7 billion a year without seeking congressional approval. Morrell said that shows the department has already exhausted its options, but Democratic congressional aides said that a request from the Pentagon for additional transfer authority would almost certainly be approved. The goal, said one leadership aide, is to keep the administration on a short leash.

So, how does the Pentagon plan on pressuring Congress to give them ‘unlimited funding’ without any strings? Ask King George. The threat of shutting the government down ‘with the exception of critical’ agencies is how they extort what they want.

The specter of labeling the Democrats ‘bad guys’ has worked every time. Pelosi crumbles, Reid crumbles, then we concede to the dictator again. How can an administration get away with this? Keep funding a war ‘over there’ then trash the wounded ‘over here’. Force the wounded to pay back their sign up bonus and pay some of their own medical bills. Demean the mentally damaged casualties and withdraw continued support.

The pressure on commanders to target PTSD in the field, then send them home with “personality problems” due to “pre-existing mental flaws” is outrageous. This administration is waging war on our own soldiers. This administration gives lip service to the uproar about PTSD and it’s spreading impact on America’s population, but, the deception still shouts betrayal.

America is betraying everything it touches. We have been taken advantage of. The civilized among us have been too polite to roll up our sleeves and take a real punch at this bully. Have we been brainwashed into lying down in front of a freight train and “hoping” it stops in time? Hope has failed, we are wasting time. Action is all that’s left!

2007 Presidential Primary Polls

National Survey Findings For Children’s Agenda

• Voters across the country believe that political leaders are not doing enough to ensure the health, education and well-being of children and that the next President and Congress need to give a higher priority to the country’s children and spend less time on other issues. This concern permeates voters regardless of partisanship or region of the country.
• Nearly half of voters nationally say that the health, education and well-being of children in America in the last 10 years have gotten worse (45%). Only 44% believe things for children have improved. Looking towards the future, just 44% think the conditions for children will get better while 41% say they will get worse.
• A significant share (38%) of voters say children’s issues will be more important to them personally in the presidential election than in past elections. Children’s issues will play a greater role with Independents (46%) than either Democrats (35%) or Republicans (33%). Independents also are most pessimistic that when today’s children in the United States grow up, they will not have the same opportunities that the current generations had (59% pessimistic compared to 40% of Democrats and 40% of Republicans).

Four Key Early Primary/Caucus States Survey Findings

• Voters in the early primary and caucus states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada want candidates for President to provide a comprehensive agenda of how they would address the needs of children.

• Voters in the early primary and caucus states believe the country is heading in the wrong direction and are pessimistic about the future of the nation’s children. 67% of voters say the country is heading in the wrong direction compared to just 19% who believe it is on the right track.
• Voters believe that Washington DC is failing America’s children and working families. Three-fifths (62%) agree with that statement that “the needs of children are regularly elbowed off the table by stronger special interests. The Congress, the administration, and t