Iraq hearings produce details

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two days of Capitol Hill hearings on Iraq have produced some new details on Bush administration plans for the beleaguered campaign, but not all that lawmakers had hoped for.
The final session this week was scheduled for today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice also planned a rare visit to the Capitol today to meet with Republican lawmakers.
Her meetings were planned to give lawmakers a chance to hear a review of developments in Iraq and pose questions to one of President Bush's closest advisers, officials said Wednesday.
Over budget
The Pentagon's top general said Wednesday that increased violence in Iraq is pushing the cost of the war over budget, threatening a $4 billion shortfall by late summer.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the recent decision to extend the stay of some 20,000 troops will cost roughly $700 million more over three months. And the White House kept open the possibility that it will seek additional funds before the end of this election year.
"When the service chiefs last talked about this, there was, I think, a $4 billion shortfall," Myers told the House Armed Services Committee. "We thought we could get through all of August. We'd have to figure out how to do September."
The war is costing about $4.7 billion a month, officials said. Defense officials are studying their budget, which runs through Sept. 30, to determine whether some money can be moved from purchase programs or other Pentagon accounts, Myers said.
Lawmakers expect to have a defense bill in place by the time the new budget year begins Oct. 1. But the version Bush proposed had no money for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nevertheless, legislators say the Pentagon could use money from that bill until extra money for the war is provided.
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