President Obama will veto Republican-backed legislation if it allows the Pentagon to shift funds meant for conflicts to other defense spending, to circumvent sequestration limits, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told Congress on Wednesday.
The topic of so-called overseas contingency operations (OCO, pronounced "oh-ko") money transfers was a main element of Mr. Carter’s testimony before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Pentagon.
Defense hawks in Congress came up with the funding workaround for spending caps placed on the base-defense budget required by the 2011 Budget Control Act. The House defense bill would add $38 billion to the president’s request of $51 billion for OCO, for a total of $89 billion that would allow the Pentagon to use the money for readiness, operations and weapons systems.
Read the full article at the Washington Times.