War supplemental effort ramping up

Defense Secretary Robert Gates will be on Capitol Hill next week to discuss President Barack Obama's fiscal 2010 $33 billion emergency supplemental request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is aimed primarily at a troop buildup in Afghanistan that is expected to last through the summer. 

Gates, along with Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will appear before the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday while Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will testify before Senate Appropriations on Thursday. 

Although no exact dates are set, the committees could mark up the legislation sometime in mid-April with the intent of getting the measure back to the president by the end of May.