Obama Vetoes Crafty Defense-Spending Bill
President Barack Obama vetoed a defense-spending authorization bill that the administration says circumvents spending caps.
The Senate originally passed the bill in June, but made changes that required the bill to go to conference. The Senate sent the bill to the president on Oct. 7.
Democrats in the Senate criticized the bill for skirting the Budget Control Act by sending money into the uncapped Overseas Contingency Operations “slush fund.” The White House echoed these concerns leading up to the Senate’s passage of the bill.
“Specifically, the bill’s use of $38 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations funding - which was meant to fund wars and is not subject to budget caps - does not provide the stable, multi-year budget upon which sound defense planning depends,” Obama wrote in the veto message accompanying the bill to the House of Representatives.
More: Courthouse News Service