Defense secretary: Navy, Air Force may need to subsidize Army soon
The Army's dwindling funds could affect service members' pay, training and family support activities.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged Tuesday that the military can manipulate its fiscal 2008 base budget to pay soldiers until late July, but warned that doing so would only provide temporary relief and could have significant consequences for the armed services.
Appearing before the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Gates said the Pentagon could dip into the Air Force and Navy's fourth-quarter military personnel accounts to cover troop costs through most of July.
"Doing so, however, is a shell game which will disrupt existing programs and push the services' [operations and maintenance] accounts to the edge of fiscal viability," Gates told the panel.
The heavily deployed Army already has been borrowing from its fourth-quarter accounts to cover war costs. By June 15, the Army would run out of funding to pay soldiers without either an enacted war funding bill or a significant loan from the Navy or Air Force.
Around July 5, the Army's operations and maintenance accounts would run dry, which would result in civilian furloughs and force the Pentagon to limit training and reduce family support activities, Gates said.
Aside from a delayed supplemental spending bill's impact on the services' accounts, the military would have to suspend the Commander's Emergency Response Program if it does not soon receive its requested war funds for this year, Gates said. The program provides commanders in the field with funds to pay for urgent local needs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress last year approved $500 million of the total fiscal 2008 $1.7 billion request for the program. The military, meanwhile, cannot reprogram funds to fill that account as they wait for enactment of the supplemental.
"Without the balance of $1.2 billion, this vital program will come to a standstill," Gates said.
Gates, who testified as the Senate was expected to begin floor consideration of the supplemental spending bill, acknowledged Congress may approve the war bill before departing for the weeklong Memorial Day recess. But Gates said he is obligated to devise contingency plans in the event of further delays. If the war spending bill does not make its way through Congress before the recess, the Defense Department will submit reprogramming requests to Congress next Tuesday "to prevent depletion of the Army military personnel account and the Army operations and maintenance account," according to Gates' written testimony. On June 9, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England will give the services guidance on furloughing civilian employees.
Gates urged Congress to pass an fiscal 2009 Defense spending bill this year and not resort to a continuing resolution to fund the department. House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., already has expressed concerns that Congress will not take up the base defense bill before adjourning this year.
A continuing resolution, Gates said, would shortchange the military billions needed for new programs. Among funds that would be lost in a continuing resolution are $8.7 billion needed to enlarge the Army and Marine Corps, $1.8 billion to continue implementation of the 2005 base closures and $246 million needed to stand up the nascent U.S. Africa Command.