Susan Ferrechio and Bill Sammon, The Examiner
2007-11-21 08:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

Two top House Democrats accused the Bush administration Tuesday of exaggerating claims that it will run out of money in January unless Congress clears a $50 billion war-spending bill.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey and his defense-spending lieutenant, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said they consequently won’t put forward another proposal for war spending before the session ends in December.

Instead, they want President Bush to sign a House-passed bill that provides the funding — as long as he commits to bringing home the troops within a year.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino made clear that Bush has no intention of signing a bill that contains a specific timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.

“We are calling on Congress and the Democrats in Congress to send the president supplemental war funding without arbitrary surrender dates and without micromanaging the war,” she said. “The Pentagon will soon be forced to send furlough notices for as many as 100,000 Army and Marine Corps civilian employees at bases around the country.”

Perino was echoing Pentagon warnings issued last week that the military will run into financial difficulties by mid-December. But Obey called this a political ploy by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Murtha said the military has enough money to last until March without making cuts and is using scare tactics to pressure Congress.

“They don’t need to do these things,” Murtha said at a news conference. “Because the Pentagon says it, you believe it? You believe what the Pentagon says?”

The Senate last week rejected the House bill, along with a Republican-backed measure that would have unconditionally provided $70 billion for the war.

Next year, Democrats will be faced with the prospect of cutting off money for troops in the field or angering their base by sending more war funding to the president without forcing him to bring the troops home. Democrats have blamed record low poll numbers on their inability to end the war.

But political experts predict Democrats will provide more war funding, even if it risks angering voters during an election year.

“The Democrats cannot go into a general election with a label of having not been supportive of the troops,” said Vanderbilt University Political Science Professor John Geer. “The Democrats are going to have to come up with some kind of compromise, and they are going to have to find a way to sell that.”

sferrechio@dcexaminer.com

bsammon@dcexaminer.com