Pressure builds for more war funding

Two powerful GOP lawmakers are demanding the White House submit an official plan to pay for hundreds of additional troops headed to Iraq, along with the thousands set to remain in Afghanistan, per President Obama's new strategy.

First, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) demanded a supplemental budget request from the Defense Department after Obama announced last week that 8,400 U.S. troops would remain in Afghanistan through fiscal year 2017, rather than the 5,500 that were budgeted.

Now, Defense Secretary Ash Carter is ordering 560 more U.S. troops to Iraq to prepare to retake Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Earlier today, Thornberry renewed his request for a supplemental budget request.

"The war against ISIS and Islamic extremists cannot be won by inches, and I am concerned that operational needs in Iraq and Syria are taking a back seat to troop levels the White House finds politically palatable," he said. "Added to the president's Afghanistan announcement last week, the United States will now be deploying thousands more troops than we have budgeted for in the President's budget request. Those deployments can only be fully supported through a supplemental budget request. I look forward to reviewing the President's request when he sends it to Congress, as I believe he now must."

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) joined Thornberry in calling for additional war funding to support additional troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"While I welcome the president's decision to send additional U.S. troops to Iraq to support the fight against ISIL, the President's defense budget does not take into account this new requirement," he said in a Monday statement. "The same is true of the President's decision to retain 8,400 U.S. forces in Afghanistan into next year. These operations will not pay for themselves, and we cannot continue to ask our troops to do more around the world by raiding funds needed to modernize their equipment and support their training. Under the Bipartisan Budget Act, the President has the authority to request increased defense funding to meet emerging national security requirements. It is time he use it."

Carter has said a requested increase in DOD's overseas operations contingency account is possible.

"We'll be making that determination as we go through the process of estimating costs and what we already have in our supplemental -- or OCO budget," Carter told reporters on a flight to Warsaw last week. "And we'll make adjustments if we need to. Obviously, we'll need the support of Congress in that regard. So, I'm actually pleased that Chairman Thornberry raised the subject. It's a very appropriate one to raise."

Todd Harrison, a defense budget analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said he thinks DOD will likely request an additional $3.5 billion to pay for the troops in Afghanistan.