Just a week after U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter called the bill a "road to nowhere," House Republicans are poised to bust the federal budget caps in the annual defense bill and thereby delay implementation of the nation’s defense requirements.

Republicans propose to use the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) emergency war account to increase defense spending, but the OCO fund was created for emergency military operations for the War in Afghanistan and cannot fund daily military operations. Such a blatant violation of the Budget Control Act (the Act) is likely to bring a presidential veto, opposition from most Democrats and some Republicans, and put near-term readiness and the well-being of our troops on shaky ground. 

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL) joined top military commanders in criticizing the Republican budget gimmick that leaves the Pentagon unsure about future funding and takes the country down a fiscally irresponsible path.

Under the 2011 Murray-Ryan Budget Control Act, the ceiling on defense spending is set at $523 billion. The 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) adds $89.2 billion by adding to the OCO war fund above the ceiling – a major breach of the terms of the Act.  

“While the Republicans violate the Budget Control Act in an attempt to swell defense spending, they in effect break the budget agreement that requires education, medical research and infrastructure funding to be treated the same way as defense spending. We will not stand for creating massive deficits for defense spending and we will not break the budget caps unless a deal is negotiated that invests in America’s primary military needs and domestic priorities like our students, medical research and crumbling infrastructure.”

Army and Air Force leaders testified before Congress in March. 

"There's a risk to not funding the base and putting it into OCO," Gen. Raymond Odierno, Army chief of staff said. He warned that the services would need greater flexibility to spend OCO money. Otherwise, rules are too strict and OCO "might not help us. At the end of the year we (might) have money to give back because we were unable to spend it."

"I would much rather have it in the base budget because some time we're going to have to shift it and we're just delaying that potential," Odierno added. 

Gen. Mark Welsh, Air Force chief of staff, also had concerns. "Modernization is a major issue we face. OCO presents some problems because it's hard to start a new program looking at a one-year budget cycle." OCO dollars are "not guaranteed over time and there are limits on what you can spend it on.”

The House will consider amendments to the FY16 NDAA today and Friday. 

###