The Congress in both houses has postured that fighting a war while simultaneously maintaining combat readiness throughout the armed forces through a series of supplemental emergency funding bills cannot go on much longer. For in fact such bills usually include other areas of government spending which have nothing to do with funding supposed emergencies. And side deals or amendments to legislation arising at the 11th hour when most of the Congress is not aware, is no way to treat troops when lives are on the line.

Mere belt tightening is not the answer in the middle of a crisis, such as a war, with other hot spots and threats to the U.S. across the globe. And the U.S. Congress is far from a good example of abiding by budget constraints. The time for addressing shortfalls is not after men are dying on the battlefield and suffering from equipment shortages, nor when it just happens to be politically expedient, but on a timeline which mitigates the loss of life by proper preparation for the long term. Perhaps if we had a more modular Congress these shortfalls would be far more uncommon. And perhaps emergency supplemental bills would be reserved for what they were intended: true emergencies only.

Copyright ©2006 Diane M. Grassi Contact: dgrassi@cox.net