The congressional defense panels are divided over how to handle the Pentagon's request to shift $9.7 billion in various military accounts to pay for the Army's immediate needs as the wartime supplemental spending bill continues to languish in Congress.

The Armed Services committees in the House and Senate have signed off on transferring the full amount, which was outlined in two separate reprogramming requests sent to Capitol Hill in May as part of a stopgap measure to keep money flowing to the Army in the event a supplemental is not enacted soon.

But the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee has agreed to allow the shift of only $7.3 billion, arguing the military does not need all the funding transferred immediately. ...