Budget Nominee Mulvaney Will Recommend Trump End War-Account Abuse: President Trump’s nominee to become the nation’s budget director, Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., said he will press the president to stop skirting budget caps by using the war budget.
Appearing before the Senate Budget Committee on Tuesday, Mulvaney signaled he would continue to fight abuses of the overseas contingency operations (OCO) account.
Over the last two years, Mulvaney and lawmakers of both parties have partnered on bills to stop using OCO money for base-budget activities. He has also opposed increases in defense spending that are not accompanied by cuts to non-defense spending,
“I will look forward to explaining to the president why I think it’s not a good way to spend taxpayer dollars,” Mulvaney said in an exchange with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., an ally on the issue.
In an exchange with Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Mulvaney agreed the use of OCO to solve budget problems has been “dishonest.” “That’s just the word I was going to use,” Mulvaney said.
