Left-Right Alliance to Continue OCO Fight

Republican deficit hawks and liberal Democrats recently joined forces, and its leaders are setting their sights on the overseas contingency operations (OCO) account.

Both sides are upset that House and Senate Republican leaders added around $40 billion to the fund in the GOP-crafted 2016 budget resolution to appease defense hawks.

Complete coverage of the 2016 budget

The leaders of the right-left alliance, Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., say the extra OCO dollars won't be used for actual war-related items.

Last week, the alliance forced House GOP leaders to abruptly pull a Veterans Affairs and Military Construction appropriations bill off the floor. And its leaders have indicated to reporters they intend to stick together.

Asked whether the duo plans to push amendments on the chamber floor next week as part of work on the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which the Armed Services Committee approved with the higher OCO amount, a House aide replied: "The effort is expected to continue."

"There is clearly bipartisan opposition to using the overseas contingency operations budget as a slush fund for non-war related projects," Van Hollen said in a statement. "I will continue to work with Congressman Mulvaney and my other colleagues to fight against this abuse of the budget process."

Van Hollen and Mulvaney last year teamed up to offer an OCO-themed amendment to the House's 2015 defense policy bill. The duo last May 22 took their case to President Barack Obama.

"OCO budgets have remained at high levels despite the fact that war operations are winding down," they wrote. "Using the OCO budget for these non-war related operations obfuscates the true cost of America's national security commitments. If we need to fund these activities, we should do so using the base budget."

Just how long the left-right alliance will hold over the war funding is unclear. That's because Van Hollen and his fellow Democrats want at least an equal increase in domestic spending, while Mulvaney and conservatives oppose any new federal spending that would not be offset by cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.

"We need to get back to the table to have an honest debate about our budget and renegotiate the funding caps for both defense and nondefense," Van Hollen said.

"Only then will we be able to provide the necessary resources for our national security needs," he said, "and to ensure we keep the nation's commitments to education, research, infrastructure, and other crucial drivers of economic prosperity."

More In Congress

Saab unveils technology incubator using Enforcer 3 as test bed

“We are trying to get capability to the fleet in months,” said Erik Smith, the chief executive of Saab's U.S. branch.

Lockheed to supply Australia with air battle management system

Overhauling Australia’s overhead defenses is expected to generate hundreds of local jobs as well as open the door to a multibillion-dollar export market.

Defense Innovation Unit prepares to execute $800 million funding boost

DIU Director Doug Beck said he doesn’t foresee any issues with quickly putting to work the $983 million in FY-24 funding Congress provided in March.

Army may swap AI bill of materials for simpler ‘baseball cards’

"We know innovation's happening in the open-source environment," said the Army's Bharat Patel. "We also know who's contributing to the open source."

How L3Harris is shoring up its small satellite supply chain

The president of L3Harris’ space systems sector, recently sat down with C4ISRNET to discuss the challenges of developing a diverse yet mature supply base.