The White House has requested $11.6 billion in additional funds for overseas contingency operations, Defense News reported Thursday.Aaron Mehta writes the supplemental request brings the total of the OCO budget proposal for fiscal year 2017 to $85.3 billion and comes in two budget amendment requests worth $5.8 billion each.
The first amendment request seeks to help the Defense Department support the campaign against the Islamic State militant organization in Iraq and Syria as well as offer assistance to the Afghan national defense and security forces, according to the report.
The second budget amendment would help the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development provide non-military assistance in support of the anti-Islamic State campaign efforts, Mehta reports.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter called on Congress to fund the supplemental budget request in order to sustain the “positive momentum†in Iraq against the militant group, the report added.
