The Pentagon has been issuing dire warnings this year that the military is fast approaching a severe money crunch — a problem compounded now by the war in Iraq and Syria.
With mandatory defense cuts looming next year and new war costs mounting, Congress will almost certainly reach for an old standby accounting solution to keep money flowing — the Overseas Contingency Operations fund, a so-called war credit card.
The OCO account, separate from the base defense budget and exempt from spending reductions set to remain in place until 2021, allows the military to respond quickly to unforeseen crises. It also allows Congress to sidestep tough budget decisions such as trimming troop benefits and eliminating weapons systems the military says it no longer needs while paying for a war that the Obama administration says could last years.
Critics say relying on the fund also enables the Pentagon to avoid the rigid cost controls and spending reductions that were the goal when Congress agreed to mandatory spending caps to reduce the growing federal debt.
“There is currently no limit on OCO, so there is as much room as they need,” said Todd Harrison, a defense budget senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, D.C.
Spurred on by budget cuts, the military has proposed freezing troop pay raises at 1 percent, slashing commissary benefits, overhauling Tricare health care coverage, and retiring hardware such as the A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft and the USS George Washington aircraft carrier.
The CSBA recently estimated the military could soon face $300 billion in mandatory cuts.
Meanwhile, war costs are quickly mounting since bombing began in August.
The Pentagon says it is spending up to $7 million to $10 million per day on an air offensive against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria that is likely to be long and difficult. Lawmakers also authorized the Obama administration to begin training and arming Syrian rebels into a proxy ground army, which will take years and could eventually cost over $1 billion dollars.
Analysts estimate the annual cost of the war could range between $2.4 billion and $18 billion/.../