Lawmakers in a House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing questioned a huge increase Overseas Contingency Operations funding and additional border wall costs in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2020 budget request, according to a Military.com report Thursday.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford were pressed to justify DOD’s sharp increase from $69 billion to $165 billion in OCO funding, which isn’t subject to budget caps under 2011’s Budget Control Act.
Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) challenged the senior officials that the increased OCO funding would be used for the Pentagon’s base budget, rather than contingency operations in what he called a “thinly disguised” attempt to skirt budget caps.
Visclosky said the increase is “staggeringly out of proportion to prior efforts to avoid the caps.”
He also was critical of the administration’s proposal to set aside about $9 billion in the budget for construction of additions to the southern border wall.
The subcommittee did approve of a 3.1% pay raise for the military and retirees, joining the White House in support of the increase included in the record $750 billion defense budget request.
Army Reserve photo by Sgt. Stephanie Ramirez