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How Pentagon war fund became a budget buster Washington can't resist
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| Parent(s) |
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Aug 05, 2015 01:34pm |
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| Category | Commentary |
| Author | Warren Strobel |
| Media | News Service - Reuters |
| News Date | Friday, July 31, 2015 09:50:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | The number of U.S. troops deployed in battle zones is at its lowest level since before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Still, Congress has authorized a 38 percent increase in the war budget over last year.
The contradiction is the legacy of an emergency war fund, started in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, that has become a favorite Washington way to sidestep the impact of fiscal constraints on military spending.
The Overseas Contingency Operations account, or OCO, has been tapped to fund tens of billions of dollars in programs with questionable links, or none, to wars, according to current and former U.S. officials, analysts and budget documents.
This spring, Congressional Republicans abandoned any pretense that OCO should be used for its stated purpose - the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and related operations. In a maneuver to increase defense spending, they simply approved adding $38 billion in other, non-war Pentagon spending to the account, bringing the total to $89 billion.
In doing so, lawmakers tapped OCO's budget magic: as a contingency fund, it doesn't count against budget caps on defense and non-defense spending imposed in 2011. |
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