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WASHINGTON- Reacting to Defense News reports of a request for $60 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee made the following statement:
“Once again I have learned important details of a major decision by the Department of Defense by reading it in the press instead of hearing it from Secretary Hagel. This trend seems to be getting worse and I hope that the Secretary of Defense will soon find a way to reverse it.
“The administration delayed this proposal for over four months and now appears to be in a rush to deliver it to the Hill with little detail on how the Department would spend the money.
“Congress is not a rubber stamp. The Armed Services Committee will examine the proposal closely, once it is actually transmitted and details are provided. I have a number of questions that will need to be answered as our Committee considers this request. First, how does OCO reset the equipment returning from hard combat in Afghanistan? Is this request more realistic than the artificially low requests of the past that ultimately harmed readiness? And how does the President’s new $5 billion counterterrorism fund differ from programs we are already resourcing? I look forward to the Department’s testimony before the Committee in the near future, where we will begin to explore these important issues.”
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