US House Lawmakers Critical of Proposed Counterterrorism Fund
Rep. Gabbard says Obama’s request may not be “in the best interests of the United States and the American people.”
Pentagon leaders faced “heavy opposition” from the U.S. House Armed Services Committee today聽to a request from the聽Obama administration for a聽counterterrorism fund.
Some members from both parties raised聽concerns that the proposed $5 billion account “amounts to little more than a slush fund for the Defense Department,” .
“The $5 billion for the broadly defined counterterrorism account is just a small part of the administration鈥檚 $60 billion request for overseas contingency operations,” the article explains. “But lawmakers said they feared it would allow the military to avoid congressional oversight, spending the money on anything that is even tangentially related to combating terrorists around the world.”
Hawaii’s Tulsi Gabbard was聽one of those House representatives expressing concern about the fund.
Gabbard, according to a press release from her office, spoke in response to testimony by Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work, who said that the president needed flexibility even though it is not clear yet what聽action he might take.
U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard confers with campaign staff after speaking at the Democratic Party of Hawaii convention.
PF Bentley/Civil Beat
Gabbard responded to Work as follows:
It is your and the administration鈥檚 position that it is agreed that we must do something but we鈥檙e not sure what. I think that assumption is what is troubling.
It should not be a given as we look at the different conflicts that are occurring, whether it be in Iraq or in other places, that we assume that we must do “something.” Sometimes the answer to that question is what is in the best interests of the United States and the American people. The answer may be to not take action in that particular situation.
That assumption that we must do something, particularly in Iraq, is where many [members of Congress] are concerned about writing this kind of blank check to fund that “something” if that “something” is not the right course of action to take.
In , meanwhile, Gabbard was said to have聽raised concerns that some of the requested counterterrorism聽funds might go toward new initiatives that would be 鈥渄uplicative鈥 with existing programs.
Gabbard, an Iraq war veteran, has asked for the Obama administration to define the nation’s objectives before committing troops to the Iraq-Syria region.
