 The Pentagon is in financial trouble. The U.S. is in trouble in the Middle East. The Pentagon is scrambling to find money to pay for a military build-up in the Middle East amid the Hamas-Israel conflict due to gridlock in the U.S. Congress, which has so far been unable to approve full defense funding, Politico reported. The U.S. Department of Defense, along with many other federal agencies, is now operating under a stopgap funding bill, which was signed by U.S. President Joe Biden earlier this month to avert a potential government shutdown. The measure, which did not satisfy Biden's request for additional money for Israel and Ukraine, also freezes other types of defense spending at the previous year's level. Pentagon spokesman Chris Sherwood told Politico that since no one planned for a massive redeployment of U.S. forces to the Middle East after the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel, the military had to pull money from existing operations and maintenance accounts. This means less funding for exercises and deployment that had already been planned. We're taking it out of hide, the spokesman said. Since the start of the Middle East crisis, the U.S. has deployed two aircraft carriers with escorts, additional missile and air defense systems, more than 1,000 troops, and an Ohio-class nuclear-powered missile submarine to the region. The military build-up came as the U.S. declared unequivocal support for Israel in its conflict with the Palestinian armed group Hamas, as well as fears that hostilities could lead to a major regional escalation involving Iran and Islamist organizations with ties to Tehran.