GovernmentExecutive.com

A senior military official Thursday urged Congress to move quickly on the fiscal 2008 Defense appropriations measure and the supplemental spending bill that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, warning that a funding delay might put the military in a precarious fiscal situation.

"The importance of a timely budget and supplemental funding bill cannot be overstated," the official said. "Both the base budget and supplemental funding bill for FY08 will have to be passed by Congress as expeditiously as possible."

The official's comments came in reaction to statements by House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., that he does not expect the war supplemental to move to the House floor before Oct. 1, potentially pushing enactment of the measure into the next fiscal year.

The White House's anticipated $50 billion addition to its $150 billion request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, coupled with an Iraq progress report that is not expected from the administration until next week, will drive the likely delay in debate on the supplemental.

"We just don't know what the facts are," Murtha said. "We don't know what the hell they're going to ask for."

Murtha said that he does not see any way the supplemental bill could come to the House floor in the next several weeks, and added that it could be months before the measure is enacted.

"I would say you won't see a supplemental until at least December," Murtha said.

Congress has several options at its disposal to continue funding the war, in the likelihood that the supplemental is not approved by Oct. 1.

Lawmakers could pay for the war through a continuing resolution, a stopgap budgetary measure, or attach a "bridge fund" to the base Defense spending bill.

The military might fund its operations using dollars allocated in its base budget for late in the fiscal year.

None of those options are appealing to military officials, who for years have stressed the importance of approving wartime spending bills on time.

A delayed supplemental would particularly affect the Army, which receives the lion's share of war funds.

"A continuing resolution will once again cause the Army to fund contracts incrementally at more expense and at a sacrifice of efficiency," the official said.

Should the money come from the fiscal 2008 budget, the Army would "rapidly deplete its base budget," running out of money for some accounts in early 2008, the official added.