Letter: To Nancy Pelosi, Speaker, US House of Representatives

Letter

Dear Madame Speaker:

We believe it is imperative that that the House be brought back into session next week to complete action of the emergency wartime supplemental bill, HR 1591, providing critical wartime funding for the Global War on Terror.

Passage of this bill in the House on March 23rd was made possible by the inclusion of several provisions aimed at providing extraneous funds for non-security related projects. While we did not agree with this extraneous funding, it is even more alarming to us that no progress was made towards a final bill prior to adjournment, knowing full well that our troops need this funding in a timely fashion.

In fact, following passage of this legislation, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J.
Schoomaker and Acting Secretary of the Army Pete Geren stated, "We are particularly concerned as Congress is set to recess until mid-April without enacting this essential legislation. Without approval of the supplemental funds in April, we will be forced to take increasingly draconian measures which will impact Army readiness and impose hardships on our soldiers and their families."

To that end, the Department of Defense has sent several urgent requests to Congress this week seeking authority to shift funds to accounts needed for combat operations. There are few options left to field commanders.

We believe it is of the utmost importance to provide our military with the resources it needs now. To do so, the House should be called back into session next week so that we can pass a clean funding bill that provides the critical funds our American troops need and deserve. The Senate will be here; the House must be in session as well.