A new Congressional Budget Office report says the Defense Department saw an estimated $64 billion growth in operation and maintenance funds within its base budget from 2000 through 2012.CBO said in the report approximately 60 percent of the increase in O&M budget could be attributed to spending on healthcare of uniformed personnel, veterans and their dependents, as well as spending on fuel and civilian compensation.
Operations of small agencies within the department and contracted services accounted for approximately 40 percent of the growth in O&M budget between 2000 and 2012, according to the report.
DoD’s O&M spending on military personnel’s healthcare increased from $16 billion to $31 billion over the 12-year period due to expanded benefits that Congress authorized in early 2000s, while compensation for civilian employees rose to $48 billion from $31 billion driven by the increase in the number of civilians employed by the Pentagon.
Fuel spending also climbed to $8 billion from $3 billion over the same period due to fuel price hikes, according to the congressional budget watchdog.
CBO also found that DoD allocated 40 percent or $200 billion of its base budget to O&M account in 2015.
O&M funds also accounted for 80 percent of the $60 billion in appropriated overseas contingency operations budget in 2015, CBO added.
