Today, House Armed Services Committee chair Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) pressed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.) to quickly pass a $37 billion supplemental war funding bill.
“DoD urgently needs supplemental funding in order to avoid inefficient and costly budget work-arounds in the immediate future,” Skelton writes in a letter to Reid. He urges the Senate majority leader to craft a bill that can gain “broad bi-partisan” so that it can reach President Obama’s desk as quickly as possible, adding “a critical hour is upon us.”
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has repeatedly urged Congress to pass a war supplemental; last month he warned lawmakers that the Pentagon would have to start doing “stupid” funding moves if a bill isn’t passed.
