Congress delay of funds leads Army to slow repairs

Reuters/NY Times:

The U.S. Army will defer spending and slow repair work on any equipment not needed for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan due to Congress' failure to approve $100 billion in extra war funding, the largest branch of the armed forces said on Monday.

The Pentagon also will ask Congress to allow the Defense Department to use $1.6 billion in funds meant for the Navy and Air Force to pay the Army's operating expenses, the Army said.

If funds are not approved by May, further spending restrictions will be made. That, the Army warned, could hurt its ability to take on a new fight.

``The Army estimates that even with these spending restrictions and a temporary reprogramming of $1.6 billion, funds are sufficient to keep operations running only until the end of June,'' the Army said in a prepared statement Monday.

``These actions carry consequential effects, including substantial disruption to installation functions, decreasing efficiency and potentially further degrading the readiness of non-deployed units,'' the Army said.

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We are already paying a price for the Democrats playing chicken with the welfare of the troops in harms way. It is now clear that Democrats who are holding up the appropriation for the war do not support the troops are the mission. It is time for people to start questioning their patriotism.