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SPECIAL AFTERNOON MIS-LEAD: Additional Money for Iraq Not Needed Until Spring, According to New Study


As Congress is preparing to vote on the administration's emergency $87 billion request, a new study is challenging the immediate need for the funding.

Defense Secretary Rumsfeld asserted two weeks ago that "the funds the president requested are vital to our success in the global war on terror and to our ability to finish the job in Iraq."1 But that position is being undermined by a Congressional Research Service (CRS) study that has found that Iraq military operations have sufficient funds until May of next year.

The CRS study released yesterday suggests that the recently-passed $368.2 billion 2004 Defense funding bill plus the emergency funding Congress passed at the start of the war provides the Army alone with $37 billion in funding for personnel and operations and maintenance, enough to fund operations through early May.2

President Bush requested the money in September, saying, "We have conducted a thorough assessment of our military and reconstruction needs in Iraq."3 But even prior to the CRS survey's conclusions, Republican aides said that the administration inflated its budget request in part to avoid having to ask for additional funds the following year -- during the election season.4

Bush continues to lobby members personally for passage of the request as it was submitted. Pressure from Congress to scale back or convert portions of the request from a grant to a loan have been met with anger. "I'm not here to debate you," Bush said, in cutting off a Republican senator during a recent meeting to discuss the issue.5

Sources:
1. Defense Department Briefing, Federal News Service,10/2/03.
2. "Availability of Army Funds Without Immediate Supplemental Appropriations," Congressional Research Service, 10/15/03.
3. Presidential Speech, 9/7/03.
4. "In GOP, Concern Over Iraq Price Tag; Some Doubt Need For $20.3 Billion For Rebuilding," Washington Post, 9/26/03, p. A01.
5. "Campaign on Iraq Aid Heats Up", Los Angeles Times, 10/16/03.