Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has proposed to do away with the $85 billion sequester cuts for this year by rerouting money expected to be saved by ending combat operations of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a report by ABC News, potentially reinstating $10.7 billion in Medicare spending through October.
The federal budget allocated $96.7 billion for its 2013 fiscal year ending Sept. 30 to the Overseas Contingency Operation, from which the Department of Defense funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The timeline to end combat operations in those countries would be by the end of the 2014 federal fiscal year in September next year, according to the report. No definite number has been allocated yet to the OCO for FY 2014 in President Obama's proposed budget.
Some have opposed Sen. Reid's plan. Undersecretary of Defense Robert Hale wrote in an April 10 brief to the Defense Department that the costs to wind down the ward are on track to cost more than was budgeted in the OCO. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said the money in the OCO fund would be borrowed rather than funded through tax revenue, implying any savings from the fund should be returned to lenders to reduce the nation's debt load.
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The federal budget allocated $96.7 billion for its 2013 fiscal year ending Sept. 30 to the Overseas Contingency Operation, from which the Department of Defense funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The timeline to end combat operations in those countries would be by the end of the 2014 federal fiscal year in September next year, according to the report. No definite number has been allocated yet to the OCO for FY 2014 in President Obama's proposed budget.
Some have opposed Sen. Reid's plan. Undersecretary of Defense Robert Hale wrote in an April 10 brief to the Defense Department that the costs to wind down the ward are on track to cost more than was budgeted in the OCO. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said the money in the OCO fund would be borrowed rather than funded through tax revenue, implying any savings from the fund should be returned to lenders to reduce the nation's debt load.
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