S.Amdt. 776

SA 776. Mr. VAN HOLLEN (for himself and Mr. Paul) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 2810, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2018 for military activities
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for
defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military
personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which
was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle B of title XV, add the following:

SEC. ___. REPORT ON BUDGET REQUESTS FOR FUNDING FOR THE
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FOR OVERSEAS CONTINGENCY
OPERATIONS.

(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) In a January 18, 2017 report issued by the U.S.
Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the Department of
Defense's Overseas Contingency Operations, the GAO found that
the criteria developed in 2010 by the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) in collaboration with the Department of
Defense (DoD) for determining whether items belonged in the
base budget or in OCO were outdated.
(2) The GAO also found that these outdated criteria did not
address the full scope of activities included in DoD's fiscal
year 2017 OCO budget request.
(3) According to the GAO, DoD officials agree that updated
guidance is not needed but noted that OMB deferred the
decision to update criteria until the new administration was
in place in 2017
(4) The GAO also found that, without reevaluating and
revising the criteria, decision makers may be hindered in
their ability to set priorities and make funding trade-offs.
(5) In response to these findings, the GAO recommends that
DOD, in collaboration with OMB, reevaluate and revise the
criteria for determining what can be included in DOD's OCO
budget requests; and that DOD develop a complete and reliable
estimate of enduring OCO costs to report in future budget
requests.
(b) Report.--Not later than December 31, 2017, the
Secretary of Defense shall, with the concurrence of the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget, submit to
the congressional defense committees a report setting forth
the following:
(1) The criteria used by the Department of Defense to
determine whether funds requested for the Department for a
fiscal year for purposes of the budget of the President for
the fiscal year (as submitted to Congress pursuant to section
1105 of title 31, United States Code) are to be requested as
funds for the Department for programs, activities, and
operations for the fiscal year for overseas contingency
operations.
(2) A current estimate of the recurring annual costs of the
Department for programs, activities, and operations for
overseas contingency operations.
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