Recipients can even apply for supplemental funds to hire research technicians to help maintain labs while scientists are taking care of their growing families.

He said there was also a supplemental fund of $300 million that could be tapped for energy assistance.

"If teachers want to buy magazines or newspapers, they often must find supplemental funds," Mr. Risinger said.

The Administration makes a plausible case that without the supplemental funds, it may be forced to shortchange readiness to cover unanticipated costs of operations.

The naval medical supplemental fund for the widows of medical officers also owed to him its existence and subsequent prosperity.

But the supplemental fund is now low, a casualty of sagging car sales that have resulted in layoffs of more than 55,000 hourly workers nationwide.

Many high-level staff members say Stars and Stripes will need supplemental funds from the Pentagon if it is to survive.

Energy Trust receives supplemental funds authorized by the legislation.

To date, most of the cost of the Iraq war has not been paid from the military budget, but from nearly $100 billion in so-called supplemental funds.

Even without these supplemental funds, Pentagon spending accounts for about 18 percent of all federal spending, the largest of any agency.