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Congress Balks on Iraq Funding... AGAIN

4:04 PM, May 8, 2008 • By BRIAN FAUGHNAN
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How many times have we seen this happen?

The Senate Appropriations Committee postponed its scheduled Thursday markup of this year's war supplemental spending bill, after the House delayed floor consideration of the legislation until next week...

Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff, says the Pentagon needs the funding bill completed by Memorial Day:

"We need [the supplemental appropriations bill] very badly before the Memorial Day recess. We stop paying soldiers on the 15th of June and we have precious little flexibility with respect to that," Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview at his Pentagon office last week. "Clearly that creates incredible constraints and difficulties for us."

Without the extra funding, Mullen said, the Defense Department would be forced to delay contract awards and withhold other spending to pay for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. "It makes it extremely difficult to execute the day-to-day business of the Pentagon without knowing the money is coming," he said.

The only reason this legislation has not yet passed is that Congressional Democrats refuse to allow a stand-alone funding bill to come to the floor, where it would likely be supported by all Republicans and a handful of Democrats. Instead, Pelosi and Reid insist that the legislation be supported by a broad swath of Democrats -- a policy they decried when it was practiced by Republicans. Instead, they again choose to play politics with the safety of our troops. It's become clear that for Democrats in Congress, they simply can't help themselves.

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