Mccaskill: Military "Budget Gimmick' by Republican Leaders "Beneath the Honor and Respect We Should Show the Military'

Press Release

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today blasted Republican leaders in Congress for using budget gimmicks in military spending bills in an attempt to get around the current caps on federal spending, as well as discussed the critical role of Fort Leonard Wood in the nation's defense and the important role of women in senior military leadership and combat roles.

At a hearing on the Army's budget, McCaskill, a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, discussed the recent national security oversight congressional delegation she led, saying, "I was taken aback when [Col. Eickhoff] talked about some of the European reassurance components that are in the budget, that they're all in the Overseas Contingency Fund… is there any rational reason why our strength of equipment and troops in Europe wouldn't belong in the regular budget of the military? Have we gone past the Rubicon? Is there now everything we can stick in [the Overseas Contingency Fund], we stick in there because of the unwillingness of Congress to step up to its responsibly as it relates to sequestration?"

McCaskill continued: "This artifice we're using, this ruse that we are performing on the American public that somehow if we put it in [the Overseas Contingency Fund] it doesn't count as us spending money--is damaging long-term for the military. You all step up to your responsibility every day. We ought to step up to our responsibility and fund our military in a way that is forthright, transparent. That sends an important message to the world. [Congress] playing this game, that pretending that if it's in this fund we don't have to pay for it, is I think beneath the honor and respect that we should show the military."

General Mark Milley, Chief of Staff of the Army, replied, "I would second your motion, Senator."

McCaskill also discussed the importance of Fort Leonard Wood, which both General Milley and Acting Army Secretary Patrick Murphy have visited, saying: "I don't need to convince either of you the importance of [Ft. Leonard Wood] as it relates to the generating force, say nothing of the other engineering capabilities and military police capabilities, and the other joint operations that are so important at Fort Leonard Wood. But I know as we try to get women into our military in all roles, women in the generating force are very important. Because they are in fact, very visible to women that might be considering a career in the armed services. And so I wanted to ask, is there any plan in place to get the proper leadership at these training facilities as it relates to gender, as we try to encourage more women to say, "please take me, I'm willing to give my life for my country.'

McCaskill is a longtime advocate for Ft. Leonard Wood, recently discussing the Fort's chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear response training school, as well as the critical role of the base as a training installation at a hearing on the future of the Army and the changing nature of the challenges facing the United States. She also recently questioned top Pentagon officials on their announced policy to open more military jobs to female servicemembers--pointing to the specialized Sapper Leadership Course at Fort Leonard Wood as a national model.

Federal budget caps currently in place are set to force a further reduction in the U.S. military's force size in the coming years. In order to avoid further cuts to the force, McCaskill has persistently called on the Republican leaders in Congress to lift those "arbitrary" budget caps, so investments can be made to secure both the base defense budget and security needs at home. Instead, Republican leaders are pursuing a strategy of pumping resources into the Pentagon's off-the-books war budget, known as the "Overseas Contingency Operations" fund. McCaskill has likened that move to a dishonest "slush fund" since that fund does not have to be off-set or paid-for, and cannot be used by military leaders to maintain force structure--meaning that even with those resources, the Army would be required to continue shrinking the force.

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