White House threatens to veto defense spending bill

The White House threatened on Tuesday to veto the House defense spending bill, arguing that it gambles with funding for the troops by shifting billions from war spending to pay for base budget programs that the Pentagon doesn’t support.

The House version of the annual appropriations bill, which the chamber will debate this week, would redirect $16 billion of overseas contingency operations funding to pay for base budget programs.

In recommending the veto, the Office of Management and Budget Tuesday said the approach is not only “dangerous,” but “it is also wasteful” because it would buy “excess force structure without the money to sustain it.”

“By gambling with war-fighting funds, the bill risks the safety of our men and women fighting to keep America safe, undercuts stable planning and efficient use of taxpayer dollars, dispirits troops and their families, baffles our allies and emboldens our enemies,” OMB said in a statement.

The administration also criticized the bill for failing to incorporate many “critical” reforms the Pentagon supports that would “divest unneeded force structure, balance growth in military compensation, modernize military health care, and reduce wasteful overhead.”

The measure also prevents defense funds from being used to plan for another round of base closures that would shutter military installations in states across the country.

The White House also opposes the bill because it continues restrictions on closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay by preventing any detainees from being transferred to U.S. soil.

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