House Armed Services Committee may boost war funds
As violence against U.S. troops escalates in Iraq, the House Armed Services Committee may consider authorizing appropriations to pay for an increase in the number of active duty and reserve troops and other costs associated with the ongoing fight against terrorism, according to congressional aides.
The funding could be added into the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill and would be above the president's $401.7 billion Defense budget request, aides said.
Although the administration's current budget proposal does not include funding for wartime costs, the president is expected to request an anticipated $50 billion supplemental spending package in January.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has repeatedly told Congress that the Pentagon has enough money remaining from earlier supplemental appropriations to get by until January. But lawmakers increasingly see an urgent need to bolster active-duty troop levels and fund critical personnel and equipment costs, such as buying more Humvees and body armor for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
If the committee adopts the proposal, it will not be the first time that it authorizes appropriations to fund the war on terrorism. In July 2002, House authorizers reached a bipartisan agreement for divvying a $10 billion pot of discretionary money that the Pentagon initially sought in its fical 2003 budget request for costs related to the fight against terrorism.
Dubbed the "Cost of the War Against Terrorism Authorization Act," the bill sought to give the Pentagon its funds, although with some strings attached.
House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., has sought to increase the size of the active-duty military since the 1990s, when the Pentagon whittled the Army's 18 divisions to 10 and Air Force wings were cut nearly in half from, 24 to 13. A committee spokesman said Hunter continues to support a troop increase.
"Defense comes first," the committee spokesman said. "We shouldn't need to look elsewhere."
House aides say Hunter is not likely to target the Pentagon's procurement coffers to pay for more troops, although other options on the table include finding offsets within the Defense Department's operations and maintenance accounts.
Senate Republicans also are seeking to raise troop levels, and some are eyeing potential sources of funding to offset the cost.
Senate Armed Services member John McCain, R-Ariz., made headlines last week when he implied that a troop increase could be paid for by cutting major Pentagon procurement programs, including the Air Force's F/A-22 stealth fighter and a plan to modernize the service's fleet of aging aerial refueling tankers with Boeing 767 aircraft. Earlier this year, McCain co-sponsored a bill introduced by Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., to increase Army end-strength by 30,000 soldiers.
The bill followed a Pentagon announcement in February of a temporary increase in Army troop levels by 30,000 soldiers over a four-year period, to be funded with current and future emergency supplemental appropriations.
The Reed-Hagel amendment, which would cost roughly $3.6 billion, would pay for the expansion through the normal budget process.
It was unclear late Wednesday how much the committee could add to the fiscal 2005 total for defense spending, although Army officials indicated in testimony earlier this year that adding 30,000 troops would cost roughly $3.6 billion. Aides said the added appropriations could be significantly higher but declined to cite a specific amount.