Obama submits plan to pay for troops

The White House has asked Congress to allow the transfer of more than $1 billion in fiscal 2010 war-related funding to pay for adding 15,000 soldiers to the Army next year.

As part of a detailed budget amendment sent to Capitol Hill Thursday, President Obama stressed the additional soldiers are necessary to alleviate stress on the heavily deployed force and end the military's "stop-loss" policy that has forced troops who have reached the end of their tours to remain on active duty indefinitely.

The temporary expansion in the size of the Army, which will grow by as many as 22,000 soldiers, will "increase the number of troops available to deploy while helping the Army to end the practice retaining soldiers beyond their period of obligated service," Obama said in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Under the proposal sent to the Hill, the $1 billion needed to pay for the added soldiers would come from "lower-priority" requirements that are "no longer needed at the current time due to changed circumstances because sufficient resources exist to protect United States personnel," Obama wrote.

In correspondence between Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag and Obama, a copy of which was forwarded to Pelosi, the budget chief wrote that the bulk of the money to pay for the troops -- $700.6 million -- would be transferred from within the Army's war spending accounts, including funding for vehicles.

"This offset reduces your initial request for trucks and tactical vehicles, due to delays in contract awards and the large backlog of production," Orszag told Obama. "It also reduces your initial request for Humvees due to the Army's reassessment of the requirement for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles."

In addition, Orszag said, Iraqi security forces have assumed more responsibility for operations, which allows U.S. forces to scale back operations faster than expected and frees up money for the increase in personnel.

The administration's request to Congress includes permission to shift $156 million from Navy and Marine Corps procurement accounts -- including weapons, ammunition and support equipment -- to help cover the cost of the Army personnel expansion.

"In each case, the department's latest assessment is that existing resources, including funds provided in the FY 2009 supplemental appropriations, are sufficient to satisfy the immediate need," Orszag said.

Another $156 million to pay for additional troops would be come from the Air Force's aircraft procurement request. That includes $124.4 million from a program known as the C-130 Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures modifications, which Orszag said is already at maximum capacity.

After Defense Secretary Robert Gates last month announced plans to temporarily boost the Army's size, House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., criticized the administration's plans to pay for the additional troops by moving around funds requested for next year.

"I told them I didn't want to see a reprogramming," he said. "That is unacceptable. You can't find that kind of money. If you do find that kind of money, then they sent up a bad budget."

The White House request comes well after the July 30 House passage of its fiscal 2010 Defense spending measure, which means lawmakers will need to resolve the funding issue during conference negotiations with the Senate on a final bill.