Gates: Expect military layoffs if funding doesn’t materialize

Gates said Congress doesn’t
understand the restrictions of military finances.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that unless Congress passes funding for the Iraq war within days, he will direct the Army and Marine Corps to begin developing plans to lay off employees and terminate contracts early next year.

Gates, who met with members of Congress on Wednesday, said that he does not have the money or the flexibility to move funding around to adequately cover the costs of the continuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“There is a misperception that this department can continue funding our troops in the field for an indefinite period of time through accounting maneuvers, that we can shuffle money around the department. This is a serious misconception,” Gates told reporters at the Pentagon.

As a result, he said that he is faced with the undesirable task of preparing to cease operations at Army bases by mid-February, and lay off about 100,000 Defense Department employees and an equal number of civilian contractors. A month later, he said, similar moves would have to be made by the Marines.

Some members of Congress believe the Pentagon can switch enough money to cover the war accounts, Gates said. But he added that he only has the flexibility to transfer about $3.7 billion — which is just one week’s worth of war expenses. Lawmakers, he said, may not understand how complicated and restrictive the situation is.

The House on Wednesday passed, 218-203, a $50 billion bill that would pay for the wars but require that troops start to leave Iraq in 30 days. It sets a goal of ending combat by December 2008, as well as establishing interrogations standards that would make waterboarding — or simulated drowning — illegal.

The Senate planned to vote as early as today on the measure. The bill was expected to fall short of the 60 votes needed to advance.

The White House says Bush would veto the war spending bill.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Thursday that if Congress is unable to pass legislation setting a timetable on the war, which is a likely scenario, it will probably drop the issue until early next year. Until then, Democrats say the Pentagon can eat into its $471 billion annual budget without needing to take the drastic steps.

“The days of a free lunch are over,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

The war bill is part of a deepening conflict between the Democratic-controlled Congress and President Bush on the war and this year’s spending priorities. Democrats say defense dollars should be used to bring troops home and repair the readiness of the armed forces, and more money should be directed to domestic projects.