President Barack Obama at Osan Air Base, Nov. 19, 2009 (photo: Sgt. Paul Gonzales/USAF)
The budget will include $5.3 billion to continue airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, of which $1.3 billion is for training Iraqi Security Forces and moderate Syrian rebels. It also includes a $42.5 billion for U.S. operations in Afghanistan next year – less than the $53.4 appropriated for fiscal 2015 – as the number of American forces is expected to decline below the roughly 10,000 soldiers there today….
Obama will ask for a $534 billion base budget, which would be the largest base budget in history. The Budget Control Act of 2011 caps defense spending next year at $500 billion. Additionally, the president will seek $50.9 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations, or OCO, war funding account, which is not subject to the caps, also know as sequestration….
