Army officials in Hawai'i face a deadline tomorrow for plans to furlough some of their 5,200 civilian employees and curtail some services for military families as a result of a budget battle between congressional Democrats and the president.

Top Army officials in Washington said reducing base operations nationwide may be necessary to cover a shortfall as Democratic lawmakers try to make troop withdrawals a condition for continued funding of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The monthly cost is now about $10 billion.

"U.S. Army Pacific is beginning prudent planning as directed by the Department of the Army for potential reduced funding and its impact on operations," said Col. Wayne Shanks, spokes-man for U.S. Army Pacific.

Shanks said that as part of the planning, officials would make sure the Army could continue to protect the health and safety of base occupants and maintain its national defense footing while trying to minimize the impact on soldiers, civilians and their families.

The furloughs and cuts in services could begin Feb. 23, according to Defense Department officials.

The cuts could affect employees at Fort Shafter, Schofield Barracks and Tripler Army Medical Center.

"We have been told by (the Defense Department) to plan for and be prepared to execute these necessary actions," Army Gen. Richard A. Cody, vice chief of staff of the Army, said in a statement Wednesday.

The Army's action comes in response to Congress' failure to approve President Bush's $196.4 billion request to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year.

Congressional lawmakers start returning tomorrow for a two-week session leading to the Christmas recess, but Democratic leaders have said they don't plan to take up the war-funding request. Instead, they said, the military could temporarily transfer funds from an already approved $459 billion defense spending bill to cover war costs through mid-February.

"I certainly hope the Pentagon hasn't spent an entire year's funding in less than three weeks," said Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee. "If the Bush administration is so stressed about having enough money for the war in Iraq that they're threatening to lay off civilian employees and cut back services for military families, including childcare, to pay for it, they should reconsider the wisdom of spending more than $10 billion a month to keep us there."

Before the Thanksgiving recess, the House approved a $50 billion war-funding bill with timelines for troop withdrawal. The Senate was unable to muster the 60 votes needed to approve the bill or a Republican alternative to provide $70 billion without timelines.

President Bush said he would veto the war-funding bill if it had troop withdrawal timelines.

Hawai'i Sens. Daniel K. Inouye and Daniel Akaka, Rep. Mazie Hirono and Abercrombie, all Democrats, voted for the bill with a troop withdrawal timeline.

"We cannot continue to provide the president with funding for the war without any accountability and a clearly defined exit strategy," Akaka, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday. "The costs to this nation are simply too high."

Speaking at the Pentagon on Thursday, Bush asked Congress to approve the war-funding bill "without strings and without delay."

"The American people expect us to work together to support our troops," Bush said. "They do not want the government to create needless uncertainty for those defending our country and uncertainty for their families. They do not want disputes in Washington to undermine our troops in Iraq just as they're seeing clear signs of success."

But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Democrats would make sure troops have the money they need "to fight for a war strategy worthy of their sacrifices."

"Bush Republicans have indefinitely committed our military to a civil war that has taken a tremendous toll on our troops and our ability to respond to other very real threats around the world," Reid said.

Defense Department and top military officials have said that without more funding, the Army would run out of operations and maintenance money by mid-February and the Marine Corps would exhaust its money about a month later. A planning directive for civilian furloughs and service cutbacks is expected to go out soon to Marine bases.

"We're not trying to scare anyone or play politics," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said recently in Killeen, Texas. "But I am responsible for prudent management and planning, and that means prior planning in case we don't get this funding in a bill the president will sign."

Gates and Cody both said the notices of possible February furloughs need to go out to employees by mid-December to adhere to labor agreements and provide some predictability to the civilian workforce.

But others said the Defense Department's action has politics written all over it.

"It looks suspiciously political," said Jim Pfiffner, a public policy expert at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. "President Bush wants to put pressure on the Democrats to pass a bill that he likes, so he is using this to ramp up some political pressure from constituents to members of Congress."

Reach Dennis Camire at dcamire@gns.gannett.com.