Politics

Obama Asks Congress For $11 Billion At The Last Minute To Fight ISIS

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The White House requested an additional $11.6 billion for the current budget “to degrade and ultimately defeat the Islamic State,” according to a budget amendment sent to Congress Thursday.

Funds would go to support the deployed troops “including the additional forces [Congress] recently approved, who are providing training, advice, and assistance to partner security forces,” the cover letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, signed by President Barack Obama, says. The 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan are technically in an advisory role and not involved in combat, according to the Obama administration.

The White House wants the $11.6 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account, sometimes called the “war readiness fund.” The U.S. Department of Defense will receive $5.8 billion, with the remainder going to the Department of State and the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID).

If Congress approves the president’s budget amendment, it will bring the total amount of OCO funding for the 2017 fiscal year to $85.3 billion. (RELATED: Pentagon Skimmed $147 Billion Off War Readiness Fund For Basic Operations)

USAID and State Department funds will be used to clean up unexploded ordnance and help stabilize Iraq and other former ISIS-held territories. The money would also be directed to “police training, stabilization and core development work in northern Nigeria and the broader Lake Chad Basin region affected by Boko Haram/ISIL,” the letter said.

Some dollars would also go to fund the Global Engagement Center, a State Department project created “to speak out against these groups and provide an alternative to ISIL’s nihilistic vision.”

Congress has yet to pass a full budget to fund the military and the rest of the government past Dec. 11, 2016, an issue that will be key at the start of the lame duck session.

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