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 The lawmakers are demanding detailed plans on uses for the funds,
precautions to keep military personnel from contracting the deadly
virus and prevent the mission from turning into an expensive,
long-term Pentagon commitment.
The lawmakers have held firm in these demands despite the first
Ebola case being diagnosed in the United States in recent days,
releasing only $50 million of the request to shift $1 billion from
the Defense Department's war operations budget.
Senator James Inhofe, the top Republican on the Senate Armed
Services Committee, said the recent cases involving Americans show
that much is still unknown about protecting people in infected
communities.
"This is an international crisis, and the United States should
assist, which is why my colleagues and I have approved part of the
president's $1 billion request," Inhofe said in an emailed statement
to Reuters.
"But I also believe that the administration has a responsibility to
show they are going to protect our service members who are being
deployed to infected regions and also show a plan for how they are
going to transition the aid to more appropriate government agencies
and NGOs," the Oklahoma Republican said.
Congressional aides from both parties said on Monday they expect the
administration to respond to these requests later this week, which
may prompt release of the funds, or fuel more questions.
Inhofe and a handful of other lawmakers wield considerable power
over the arcane budget process known as "reprogramming," under which
the administration requested the funding shift. It needs no vote but
a sign-off from the chairmen and ranking members of the relevant
committees.
Senator Richard Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate
Appropriations defense subcommittee, agreed to the full $1 billion
but this was trumped by his House Appropriations defense
subcommittee counterpart, Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen, who would
only release $50 million.
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The House Appropriations Committee asked for detailed information on
the use of the funds, on measures to ensure that the response effort
is effective and on protecting Americans.
A Republican aide to the panel said that releasing only $50 million
so far has not compromised the military's efforts.
"The spend-rate on that $50 million is quite low at the moment
because they're still in the planning stages," the aide said.
Nonetheless, some lawmakers are getting nervous about the funding
delay. Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat who heads the Senate's Africa
subcommittee, called for balance between Congress' oversight role
and a rapid response to the crisis.
"The administration ought to be able to show Congress that it has a
clearly defined strategy, and the moment it does, Congress should
release those funds immediately," Coons told Reuters via email. "We
need bring to bear the full weight of the United States government
to this crisis and we need to do it quickly."
(Reporting by David Lawder; Additional reporting by Patricia
Zengerle; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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