Say Anything Blog

Or is the left just trying to whitewash their decision to let those funds run out?

The Democrats are touting a Congressional Research Service memo which appears to say that the military can continue to operate in Iraq through July without any additional funding from Iraq.

WASHINGTON—The non-partisan Congressional Research Service has estimated that the Army has enough budget flexibility to pay for military operations through July, should a standoff between the White House and Congress over Iraq hold up the money the administration says it needs for the war effort.

The service’s report, made public Friday by Senate Democrats, said the Pentagon may have to shift money between accounts and curtail some non-essential activities, but said Congress has provided the military with new ability to do so, lessening the potential for disruptions until additional money is approved.

Harry Reid is quick to accuse the White House of using “scare tactics” to stop Democrat attempts to lose the war change the course of the war.

“This study confirms that the president is once again attempting to mislead the public and create an artificial atmosphere of anxiety,” Reid said. “He is using scare tactics to defeat bipartisan legislation that would change course in Iraq.”

So who’s right?  Well, let’s go to the memo (available here courtesy of the far-left Think Progress blog).  Here’s the part the Dems are pointing to in support of their position:

Based on Army data and estimates, the Army could finance it’s O&M expenses through the end of May by tapping the $52.6 billion in O&M funding already provided by Congress in the FY2007 DoD Appropriations Act (P.L. 109-209) and the Continuing Resolution (P.L. 110-5/H.J. Res. 20).

[...]

If the Army temporarily tapped all this transfer authority, it could have a total of 60.1 billion available rather than 52.6 billion. Based on projections of basic obligation rates, the Army could finance the O&M costs of both its baseline and war program for almost additional two months, or through most of July 2007, if it tapped into all of its transfer authority.

So the Army can continue to operate in Iraq by transferring funds from other parts of their budget.  The problem is that doing so will cause the Army to have to cut back on vital maintenance and services elsewhere.  From a part of that same memo the left doesn’t want you to read:

“To use this transfer authority, DOD would have to submit a reprogramming request that could temporarily move for example, procurement funds into Army O&M as long as the four defense committees approved.”

[...]

“The Army has suggested that these actions would disrupt its programs including facilities repair, depot maintenance, and training. In order to ensure that funding is available for the later months of the year, the Army may very well decide that it must slow down its non-war-related operations before money would run out by, for example, limiting facility maintenance and repairs, delaying equipment overhauls, restricting travel and meetings, and, perhaps slowing down training. Although it is true that a delay in passage of the FY2007 supplemental could require additional management actions, Congress has given DOD flexibility by providing transfer authority so that funds can be moved to meet more urgent requirements. In this case, because the transfers would presumably be temporary, the disruptions might also be less onerous.

“In addition, funding for operation and maintenance finances a wide variety of activities ranging from day-to-day maintenance of military facilities to pre-deployment training of troops. The Army could take some actions that might be less efficient but would not necessarily harm readiness by for example, delaying facilities repairs until later in the year or splitting support contracts into smaller increments so that obligations would be smaller initially and larger later in the year.”

In order to deal with the delay in war funding from Congress the Army would have to cut down on facility maintenance and training.  Remember that a lack of facility maintenance was a big reason why the Walter Reed controversy was as bad as it was.  Do we really want a repeat of that incident?

Apparently the Democrats do.  Or, more accurately, what they really want is to cripple our military’s ability to prosecute the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while not really appearing to do any such thing.  Which is exactly why the Democrats are telling us that the Army can continue to operate in Iraq through July with the funding they have while not telling us that doing so would mean that the Army would have to slow down maintenance of facilities and equipment.

These people are a bunch of dishonest, back-stabbing partisans who apparently have absolutely no qualms about hamstringing our military to force a loss in a war simply because they don’t like and disagree with the current President.

Disgusting.