Army budget request might seek little for force protection

When the Defense Department submits its fiscal 2006 budget request to lawmakers Monday, Pentagon and congressional sources say the Army's portion will reflect a relatively small $100 million increase over last year's appropriation despite criticism the service has failed to adequately supply critical equipment to soldiers in Iraq.

Pentagon sources confirmed the Army's share of the anticipated $419 billion budget request includes little funding for force protection initiatives for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, though at presstime details of the request had not been released.

Instead, senior Pentagon leaders directed the Army to cover force protection needs in the Bush administration's $80 billion wartime supplemental package. Roughly $98.5 billion was appropriated in fiscal 2005 for the Army.

The Army is expected to receive $57 billion in supplemental funding in the forthcoming request, of which $12 billion will go toward modernization.

House Armed Services ranking member Ike Skelton, D-Mo., accused the Pentagon of being "inexcusably slow to provide adequate armor and protection against improvised explosive devices to service members on the frontlines." Skelton, in a statement issued late Thursday, attributed this to the Pentagon's decision to fund the war through "piecemeal supplemental requests, rather than by requesting adequate funding up front."

But some argue the Army's share of the 2005 budget was substantial, and any increase in the 2006 request is a positive sign.

"In last year's congressional action, the Army was the big winner," a senior House aide said Thursday. "Army research and development went up by $1.4 billion and procurement rose by $1.7 billion, in addition to more than $15 billion appropriated in the bridge supplemental."

Additional money for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan is expected in a second supplemental later this year, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Wolfowitz said the two supplementals will help pay for a congressionally mandated troop-level increase lawmakers authorized last year.

Wolfowitz said the Army will fund what is likely to become a permanent troop increase beginning in the 2007 budget.

Pentagon sources confirmed that the Army's budget is slated to grow by more than $10 billion beginning in 2007.

However, one source said Army procurement accounts will take a substantial cut in order to pay for the additional troops, and the service could face a series of program cancellations in 2006.