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Democrats Seek Funding for Army Shortfall

The problem:

Up to two-thirds of the Army’s combat brigades are not ready for wartime missions, largely because they are hampered by equipment shortfalls [...] In a letter to President Bush, Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said that “nearly every non-deployed combat brigade in the active Army is reporting that they are not ready” for combat. The figures, he said, represent an unacceptable risk to the nation.

Democrats propose a solution:

Murtha and Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., said they would like to see an emergency appropriation of $17 billion, but they will at least be asking for an increase of $10 billion in the $50 billion supplemental funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that the administration requested for the first few months of the 2007 fiscal year.

Despite the dangers that funding shortfalls pose for Army brigades, President Bush seems oblivious to the problem—today on Fox News, Bush declared: “We have a very strong military and we can deal with any threat to the homeland there is and will if we have to.”