The specter of war supplementals hovered over the Capitol this week, given weight by threats from Defense Secretary Robert Gates that military operations would grind to a halt if Congress didn’t act immediately. At a hearing on Iraq contracting convened this morning by the Democratic Policy Committee, former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb said such claims were “hogwash” because the Defense Department could transfer some $7 billion from the 2008 base budget and draw on another $40 billion in unobligated funds from earlier supplemental bills. A Congressional Research Service report released yesterday backed up DoD’s February deadline, saying that DoD could only use the $3.7 in general transfer authority from the 2008 budget plus a couple billion from working capital funds.

No matter how you slice it, the situation highlights the extent of the Pentagon’s ability to finance ongoing conflicts while Congress debates—a point Korb made in reference to a letter eight representatives sent DoD this week telling the department to move money around in order to fund the wars. As Winslow Wheeler, Korb’s colleague at the Center for Defense Information, points out in this  commentary : “The CRS report is important reading to understand how the Pentagon can legally support war operations that Congress has not appropriated funding for – a situation that has repeatedly occurred during the course of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and in previous conflicts).”

This principle appeared to be at work in the Pentagon’s last Selected Acquisition Report, which announced that funding for the EA-18G “Growler” aircraft had jumped $321 million to $8.6 billion total. The SAR, which updates Congress when weapons go over cost or budget, said the jump was due to a boost in DoD’s order from 80 to 85. A spokeswoman for Boeing, which produces the Growler, said the extra aircraft reflected the five requested by DoD for the 2008 supplemental—which, of course, has not yet been passed. Some would even say that weapons such as the Growler, a replacement for the EA-6B Prowler that won’t be deployable until 2009, should not be included in war funding at all. The Navy has not yet answered requests for comment.

None of the options offered by CRS for stretching DoD’s war dollars are very appetizing: Potentially disrupt Army operations by slowing them down, defer depot maintenance, or revert to the obscure “Feed and Forage Act” to obtain emergency funds. A recent suggestion by Sens. Coburn, DeMint and McCain to redirect the $5 billion worth of earmarks attached to the 2008 defense appropriations bill was unfortunately not addressed.

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