The Senate Appropriations Committee today released a defense spending bill that surpasses statutory budget caps by more than $32 billion. The chairman's recommendation of the fiscal year 2018 appropriations bill allocates $581.3 billion in base Defense Department spending, as well as $64.9 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), according to a summary of the bill released by committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS). The bill's base defense spending is $15.4 billion above President Trump's FY-18 request, the summary notes, while the...
