And why were they only making 450 Humvees a month? [Becasue it was law, that's why]
Your link makes a very good point that congress controls what the army buys and how many...the military has to go through Congress for any changes. But by the same token, why did the military brass not make a stink about getting only 450 of the vehicles that we supposedly have such a desperate need for? Especially if the military made a stink about 'giving our troops the protection they need' and it was introduced seperately, there probably wouldn't be a single congressman voting against it for fear that someone in their district dies and gets blamed on them for not voting for armored humvees.
The citation your note was inserted to prevent the withholding of funding after 10 months of wrangling and dodging. You will note the FY04 supplemental was highly earmarked, only $1.5 of the $25 billion was undesignated. This is because both armed services committees concluded in May that Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld would divert the funds. Check Hunter's comments on May's House Armed Services Committee Hearings, and that was a Republican! Rumsfeld will never ever receive an unallocated appropriation like the $87 billion again. Its a no confidence vote of the first order.