SecDef Gates Criticizes Congress On Lack Of War Funding

This nonsense with war funding is getting old. As soon as the Dems realize we are not pulling out of Iraq, the easier it will be for them. We have troops in a war zone and the idiots in Congress want to play games with them.

Gates also criticized Congress' choppy funding for the wars. He said while the Pentagon welcomed the recent appropriation, it is less money than needed. He said no furlough notices for Defense Department employees will be issued, a possibility that loomed until Congress passed the spending bill. But Gates said that prospect will reappear in a few months unless Congress supplies more money. He said the military may run out of money by spring. That "requires us to make short term plans and short terms solutions," he said. "I hope we don't have to have a replay this spring," Gates said. Paying for the wars in Iraq in Afghanistan in fits and starts undermines military planning and risks the gains made by American troops over the past year, he said during a Pentagon news conference. Congress recently provided $70 billion for combat operations, only half of what the President requested. On Iraq, Gates was cautiously optimistic about further troop reductions beyond those already planned, but he declined to attach a specific number to that projection. "We obviously want to sustain the gains that we have already made," Gates said.