US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates will face questioning next week from lawmakers who control government spending about the cost of the Obama administration's surge of troops into Afghanistan, congressional aides said on Thursday. Gates and Clinton will appear on Tuesday before a joint hearing of two House of Representatives appropriations subcommittees, the aides told Reuters.
The hearing will be chaired by Representative John Murtha, a Democrat who said last week he thought Congress would have to approve a war funding bill of at least $40 billion to pay for President Barack Obama's troop buildup in Afghanistan.