Most of the government is operating under a stopgap funding measure that will expire December 14, and under which agencies generally are restricted to spending at fiscal 2007 rates. Those that are taking on increased responsibilities are starting to warn that continued funding at those levels is insufficient—in particular, the Defense Department, which has said that without receiving a war funding supplement soon, it will have to start furloughing about 100,000 civilian employees and cut off funding for a similar number of contractor jobs in the February timeframe. The Pentagon has authorized the Army, the potentially hardest-hit military component, to issue furlough notices in December, which would be required because of the lag time specified under furlough policy. The supplemental measure has been hung up over disagreements over Iraq war policy, and some in Congress argue that the furlough threat is being used as a bargaining chip and that the Pentagon could avoid such an action by reprogramming existing funds. DoD says that reprogramming will not solve the problem.