Top Dems want investigation into war fund
Top Dems want investigation into war fund
By Rebecca Kheel - 09/30/15 03:09 PM EDT
The ranking members on the House and Senate Budget committees, one of whom is Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, are asking the Government Accountability Office to look into whether war funds are being spent on their intended purpose.
“The use of off-budget war fund to finance regular operations hides the true cost of government, and it inhibits the Congress’ ability to have an honest debate when setting funding levels for both defense and non-defense programs,” Sanders and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) wrote in a letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro.
“To better understand this issue, we request GAO to perform an analysis to determine how war funds have been spent and to identify the degree to which war fund have been used to fund regular activities,” they wrote.
The request comes as a fight over this year’s National Defense Authorization Act emerges between Congress and the Obama administration.
The defense policy bill would authorize $612 billion in funding for the Pentagon, the amount the administration is asking for. But $38 billion of that would be in the war fund instead of the base budget, as the administration wants...
Read more:
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/255476-sanders-van-hollen-want-investigation-into-war-fund