US Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday decried a move by Congress to limit war funding for Iraq, saying it complicates the conduct of the war when US troops already are starting to leave.
The Democratic-led House of Representatives voted Wednesday to approve a 50 billion dollar war funding bill, only about a quarter of the funds requested by the administration.
The bill, which President George W. Bush has vowed to veto, included a timeline for an immediate withdrawal of US forces.
Gates argued the administration already has begun drawing down US troops in Iraq, and military commanders in Iraq have set forth a timetable for the withdrawal of five of 15 combat brigades by July.
"So the issue now really is about pacing. How fast do you change the mission? How fast do you draw down the troops?" he said.
"It seems to me that there ought to be some deference to those who are running the war, the generals, in terms of whether it's at the pace at which this draw-down should take place and based on the conditions on the ground," he said.
Gates said the 50 billion dollars approved by the House would last only until February.
He said the army is making preparations for furloughs of an estimated 200,000 civilian employees and defense contractors to free up money for operations.
Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid warned on Tuesday that if the bill did not pass the Senate, Bush would not get any more money for the war this year.
That would force the Pentagon to dip into its current operating budget to finance the operations.
