WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) -- The Pentagon is dipping into the personnel accounts of the Air Force and Navy to fund ongoing Army operations in Iraq.
The dollar-touch is the fifth such siphoning of funds absent emergency supplemental funding for the conflict and coincides with the 100-day mark of President Bush sending his $95 billion request to Capitol Hill.
The White House says the amount being taken from the two services is $1.4 billion, enough to fund operations for just one week.
Some money from previous transfers from various service programs and accounts were used to procure mine-resistant ambush protection vehicles and vehicles resistant to improvised explosive devices, spokesman Tony Snow said Tuesday. Funds tapped also helped pay for rotation of troops in and out of Iraq as well as combat operations.
The lack of a war supplemental has resulted in the Army emptying the service's fourth-quarter operations and maintenance accounts, which would cover day-to-day operations, he said.
President Bush and the Pentagon had warned a continued stalemate on supplemental funding to cover what remains of fiscal 2007 would result in the Pentagon siphoning funds by mid-April.
The standoff between Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress revolves around Democratic demands for mandatory troop-withdrawal timelines in the legislation and/or set markers the Iraq government would need to achieve in reconciliation, security and reconstruction for continued military aid.
Bush vetoed an earlier supplemental because of the timelines, which he said was virtually a declaration of defeat.
Negotiations between the White House and Capitol Hill are said to now focus on possible benchmark provisions in a supplemental that Bush and his war foes could each accept.
