WASHINGTON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon can
fund military operations in Iraq through July even under a possible protracted
standoff between Democrats and the Bush administration, according to a study
released here Friday.
The study by the Congressional Research Service (CRS)
said the U.S. army has enough money in its existing budget to fund operations
and maintenance through the end of May -- about 52.6 billion U.S. dollars.
If additional transfer authority is tapped, subject
to Congress approving a reprogramming request, the army will have enough funds
to make it through nearly two additional months, or toward the end of July.
Using all of its transfer authority, the army could
have as much as 60.1 billion dollars available.
Using only a portion of that transfer authority, the
army could have enough money to get through June.
U.S. President George W. Bush and Republicans have
argued the military needs the funding as early as mid-April, while Defense
Secretary Robert Gates has said May 15 is the absolute latest the army could go
without having to defer critical expenses and perhaps forego training for units
set to be deployed to Iraq.
Bush requested the emergency funds in early February,
but Democrats have linked such funding bills with timetables to withdraw all
combat troops from Iraq next year.
He has repeatedly threatened to veto the bills and
blamed the Democrats for delaying the appropriation of the war funds by
presenting bills he can't sign off.
However, the study weakened his above claims and
Democrats accused the president of misleading the public on the issue.
"This study confirms that the president is once again
attempting to mislead the public and create an artificial atmosphere of
anxiety," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
"He is using scare tactics to defeat bipartisan
legislation that would change course in Iraq," he said.
WASHINGTON, March 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senate on Thursday
passed a bill that would require President George W. Bush to bring all combat
troops home from Iraq within a year.
On a 51-to-47 vote, Democrats narrowly pushed through the
122-billion-U.S. dollar war funding bill, which includes a timeline to pull out
all U.S. combat troops by March 31, 2008. Full story
WASHINGTON, March 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W.
Bush vowed Wednesday not to negotiate with Congress on setting a timetable to
withdraw troops from Iraq.
In a speech delivered to the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association, Bush said the American people would blame lawmakers if there is any
delay in approving money for the war effort due tolegislative battle over such a
timetable. Full story
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