Congress is set to give the Pentagon more flexibility on spending $238 billion in operations and maintenance funding this year, which makes up more than a third of the overall defense budget, after annual appropriations were held up for six months due to political wrangling.
The omnibus unveiled Wednesday night expands by 5 percent the amount of operations and maintenance money the Pentagon can spend in the last two months of the fiscal year. Typically, the Pentagon is not allowed to spend more than 20 percent of its operations and maintenance funding in the last two months of the fiscal year, and any unspent money must go back to the U.S Treasury.
The provision increases the operations and maintenance spending limit in the last two months from 20 to 25 percent, which would allow the Pentagon to pump another $12 billion in August and September into rebuilding what many on Capitol Hill say are depleted military forces.
“This funding supports key readiness programs to prepare our troops for combat and peacetime missions, including flight time and battle training, equipment and facility maintenance, and base operations,” according to the House Appropriations Committee.
The Pentagon requested the measure and Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, the chairwoman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, “fought for, and was able to secure” the language in the omnibus, her spokesman Kevin Boland said.
Congress passed a series of stopgap continuing resolutions since the deadline for fiscal 2018 came and went in September due to political disputes over immigration and a host of other hot-button issues. The Pentagon has opposed the continuing resolutions and pointed to the delays in annual spending as damaging to military readiness.
The massive $1.2 trillion spending bill published late Wednesday wraps together all 12 of Congress’ annual appropriations bills and includes $589.5 billion for the Pentagon’s base budget and $65.2 billion for overseas contingency operations. The remainder of the $700 billion in national defense funding would go to the Energy Department and other defense activities outside DoD.
The legislation was lumbering through the House on Thursday and Congress was hoping to pass it in the Senate before the current temporary budget measure expires at midnight on Friday.
“This bill makes historic investments in our military including the largest year-to-year increase in funding in 15 years, since the beginning of the war on terror,” said Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. “This legislation will continue efforts to reverse the damage and neglect done under the previous administration that has caused the men and women of our armed forces to be less prepared to fight, and that have put our nation’s ability to counter future threats in peril.”
The potential hike has already sparked calls from defense hawks for greater congressional oversight on Pentagon spending and more reforms to cut waste.
“Congress’ work does not end when we write a check. In the months ahead, we will ensure that the military uses these funds to begin to rebuild quickly and efficiently. We will pursue reforms to the Department of Defense that preserve and enhance our fighting edge,” said Rep. Mac Thornberry, the House Armed Services chairman. “We will continue to take a hard look at Pentagon bureaucracy as we prioritize rebuilding strength on the front line and cutting fat in the back office.”
