Ostrolenk speaks with Andrew Lautz who is a Policy and Government Affairs Manager with National Taxpayers Union. They discuss NTU’s new paper entitled “Reforming the OCO Account: A Better Deal for Taxpayers, Watchdogs, and the Military.” (https://www.ntu.org/publications/detail/reforming-the-oco-account-a-better-deal-for-taxpayers-watchdogs-and-the-military)
The paper includes Ten OCO Reform Options;
Low-Hanging Fruit: OCO Reforms for the FY 2021 NDAA
1. Re-establish the Wartime Contracting Commission:
2. Ensure that OMB and DoD finish work on revised criteria for DoD’s OCO budget
3. Require DoD to give Congress and OMB a plan for transitioning all existing enduring costs funded through OCO to the base budget:
4. Require DoD budgets to break out enduring costs funded through OCO:
5. Require five-year projections of all OCO costs:
6. Prohibit OCO/GWOT spending on base activities in the State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill:
Turning the Corner on OCO: Long-Term Reforms
7. Enforce the existing definition of “contingency operation”:
8. Institute more aggressive caps on OCO funding, with a declining cap year to year until OCO is nominal or zero:
9. Require DoD to establish an OCO reserve, funded through Congressional appropriations year to year, for use on actual contingency operations:
10. Remove the OCO/GWOT designation, forcing Congress to instead fund operations through supplemental appropriations and/or “emergency” designations:
You can follow NTU on twitter @NTU and Andrew Lautz @andrew_lautz
