Loyal and long time readers of the BudgetBlog may remember the Feed and Forage Act, a budget policy as obscure as budget policies get (now that's obscure!). It gives the President the authority to obligate funding for a war without an appropriation. So even if funding runs out, soldiers will be provided for. Conceivably, the President then couldn't use a funding deadline to coerce Congress into funding wars. Calls to "support the troops" might ring hollow. See Ryan Grim's story in The Nation for a good overview of the issue. It timing couldn't be better, as the Washington Post/ABC News poll shows a majority of Americans oppose fully funding President Bush's war requests.