The Obama Administration will request $5.6 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) activities to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL – including military operations as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. This request updates our June OCO request to Congress for the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of State and Other International Programs.
The request includes $1.6 billion to establish an Iraq Train and Equip Fund to develop and support Iraqi Security Forces, including Kurdish forces, as they work with the Government of Iraq to confront ISIL. This funding will help reconstitute the Iraqi Army and strengthen the capability and capacity of our Iraqi partners to go on the offensive against ISIL.
In total, this request supports the strategy the President laid out in his address to the Nation on September 10. That comprehensive strategy identified a clear objective for the United States and its allies and partners: to degrade, and ultimately defeat, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism campaign. Even with this additional request, total OCO funding for DOD is still approximately $20 billion less than the Department’s enacted OCO funding last year – continuing the downward trend in OCO spending as America’s combat mission in Afghanistan concludes.
We believe this request is an opportunity for Congress and this Administration to work together to provide the additional resources needed to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL and I look forward to working with Congress to secure this funding.