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1 1 (December 30, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govbcwy0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 01;0i E.$~ & Updated December 30, 2019 Foreign Affairs Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) Funding: Background and Current Status Congressional interest in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding levels has continued as Members debate annual foreign affairs and defense budgets. A key feature of OCO funds is their effective exemption, like emergency funds, from the discretionary spending limits established by the Budget Control Act of 2011 through FY2021 (BCA, P.L. 112-25). Some Members have suggested that this exemption provides agencies with additional budget cushioning and flexibility, allowing defense and nondefense foreign affairs funding to exceed the spending caps. Others have criticized the OCO designation, labeling it as a slush fund that provides funds for programs unrelated to contingency operations. In the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019 (BBA 2019, P.L. 116- 37), Congress raised the overall discretionary spending limits for FY2020 and FY2021, the last two years in which the BCA caps are in effect. BBA 2019 also included nonbinding targets for OCO funding in both FY2020 and FY2021; defense OCO targets were set at $71.5 billion for FY2020 and $69 billion for FY2021, while the foreign affairs OCO targets were set at $8 billion for each fiscal year. The Trump Administration has not requested OCO funding for foreign affairs since FY2018. (In FY2019, the Administration initially requested $12 billion for foreign affairs OCO, but following passage of the 2018 Bipartisan Budget Agreement (P.L. 115-123), it issued an addendum requesting that all foreign affairs OCO be shifted to base funding.) While ongoing debate in Congress over OCO may focus on defense spending (where the largest share of OCO funds are appropriated), foreign affairs OCO funding may continue to play a role in the international affairs budget. The foreign affairs agencies began requesting OCO funding in FY2012, distinguishing between what is referred to as enduring (ongoing costs) versus extraordinary, temporary costs of State and USAID in the frontline states of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Many view this approach as similar to the annual emergency supplemental appropriations to support the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) in the frontline states during the George W. Bush Administration. Congress, having provided OCO funds for the Department of Defense (DOD) earlier, adopted this approach for foreign affairs, although it never permanently defined its uses in statute. Since 2012, Congress has appropriated more foreign affairs OCO funds than were requested each year and authorized its use for various functions (see Table 1). For the first foreign affairs OCO appropriation in FY2012 (P.L. 112-74, Div. I, Title VIII), Congress provided funds for a wide range of recipients beyond the three frontline states, including Yemen, Somalia, Kenya, and the Philippines. In addition to country-specific uses, Congress also appropriated funds for the Global Security Contingency Fund. In the FY2013 full-year continuing appropriations (P.L. 113-6, Div. F, Title VII, Sec. 1707- 1708), Congress specified only Jordan as an additional OCO-recipient country. Figure I. Foreign Affairs Overseas Contingency Operations, FY2012-FY2020 (in billions of U.S. dollars) 2 H 2Cis tlams• WIN f Ea ¥e Z 12 SAO2.a $6 S. 3 $, q $205 YO S¥.1 $fl.Q $II Y09 f-¥ Source: Department of State Congressional Budget Justifications, FY201I4-FY2020, P.L. II15-141, P.L. II16-6, and P.L. II16-94. The totals enacted include net rescissions. For FY2014 (P.L. 113-76, Div. K, Title VIII), Congress provided four accounts with no-year (available until expended) OCO funds, but made most foreign affairs OCO funds available for two years-or until September 30, 2015. Congress also expanded the terms of transfer authority, providing greater flexibility across certain accounts. It also authorized transfers from those accounts to International Disaster Assistance (IDA) and Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) accounts, subject to certain dollar amounts or percentages, and regular notification procedures. FY2014 OCO-funded activities were implemented in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon, the Central African Republic, and Somalia. For FY2015 (P.L. 113-235, Div. J, Title VIII), although Congress did not provide specific OCO funds for countering the Islamic State (IS), as was requested by the Obama Administration, it did provide an increase in OCO funds in many accounts with language that allowed it to be used for counterterrorism. The Obama Administration requested an expanded use of OCO funds for Syria and peacekeeping in FY2016 (P.L. 114-113, Div. K, Title VIII) gnom ggmm , q 'S SL IN 11LULANJILiN,

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