WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, pressed acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney on the Trump Administration’s increasing use of overseas contingency operations/global war on terrorism (OCO/GWOT) funding for matters that have nothing to do with military deployments abroad.  As a member of Congress, Mulvany professed concern about the use of OCO/GWOT.  Now, with Mulvaney operating as Director of the Office of Management and Budget and acting Chief of Staff, the Trump Administration’s FY 2020 budget proposal adopts the very approach he once decried.

“We acknowledge that previous Congresses and Administrations included elements of base funding in OCO/GWOT accounts in the past, but this administration’s decisions are particularly egregious,” the Senators wrote in a letter to Mulvaney.  “Continuing this practice is neither sustainable nor responsible.” 

On March 1, 2019, the Department of Defense took the unprecedented step of proposing a reprogramming to use OCO/GWOT funds to repair storm damage at Camp Lejeune and Tyndall Air Force Base.  On March 11th, the President’s budget request further abused the intent of OCO/GWOT funding by including $98 billion needed for base requirements in the OCO/GWOT request for the singular purpose of evading budget caps. 

Full text of the letter is below:

April 9, 2019 

Dear Mr. Mulvaney:

We write with concerns about the Administration’s increasing use of overseas contingency operations/global war on terrorism (OCO/GWOT) funding for matters that have nothing to do with military deployments abroad.  We acknowledge that previous Congresses and Administrations included elements of base funding in OCO/GWOT accounts in the past, but this administration’s decisions are particularly egregious.  Continuing this practice is neither sustainable nor responsible. 

In September 2010, the Office of Management and Budget directed the Department of Defense to apply criteria to items proposed for OCO/GWOT funding.  This common-sense step towards reining in the use of this off-the-books spending directed that the spending be used for overseas operations, to replace equipment damaged in war, and for certain activities that directly support deployed troops.  We expect that you would agree that the criteria were not perfect, but a positive step in containing what had become a slush fund. 

In the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, Congress directed the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Director of Management and Budget, to update these criteria.  To the best of our knowledge, no action has been taken to fulfill this requirement.

Instead, the Administration has moved in the opposite direction.  On March 1, 2019, the Department of Defense took the unprecedented step of proposing a reprogramming to use OCO/GWOT funds to repair storm damage at Camp Lejeune and Tyndall Air Force Base.  On March 11th, the President’s budget request further abused the intent of OCO/GWOT funding by including $98 billion needed for base requirements in the OCO/GWOT request for the singular purpose of evading budget caps.  The Administration knows well that this request is a gimmick, as this funding is expressly labelled “OCO for base” in all official budget documents produced by the Department of Defense. 

As a member of Congress, you professed concern about the use of OCO/GWOT.  In June 2016, you authored an amendment to the defense authorization bill to stop spending OCO/GWOT funds on military projects that did not relate to the war.  While the amendment received only 112 votes in the House, it is clear that your views on the abuse of OCO/GWOT were strongly held.

Subsequently, on February 12, 2018, as Director of the Office of Management and Budget, you wrote to former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, “In FY 2020 and the outyears, the Administration proposes returning to OCO’s original purpose by shifting certain costs funded in OCO to the base budget where they belong.”  As you are aware, the FY 2020 budget proposal adopts the very approach you decried.

We strongly urge you, as the Senate-confirmed Director of the Office of Management and Budget and acting White House Chief of Staff, to change the Administration’s use of OCO/GWOT funding to a more responsible approach that you once advocated.  We stand ready to work with you to look after the needs of our service members in a fiscally responsible manner. 

Sincerely,