Dispute threatens war funding

? House and Senate Democrats are at odds over how to approve additional funding for U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and will not be able to resolve wide differences until at least next week.

Last month, House Democratic leaders won approval for an unpopular $58.8 billion war funding by allowing members to add about $23 billion in home front spending to counter the nation’s economic woes. That brought the total cost of the measure to about $82 billion.

However, the Senate late Thursday roundly rejected the domestic aid, fearing a voter backlash against federal spending and forcing House Democratic leaders to revisit the issue. The Senate pared back the funding measure to its original amount.

The Pentagon has warned that its accounts will begin drying up next month if Congress does not approve the war funds. But House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said there was no danger that the Pentagon would run out of money.