House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) confirmed Thursday that his committee seeks to shift $18 billion from the Pentagon's warfighting account and use it to pay for increases in weapons procurement, an additional 20,000 Army soldiers, and a variety of training and maintenance. Thornberry defended the fiscal maneuver at a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington amid questions asking whether the plan, which transfers $18 billion from the overseas contingency operations (OCO) account to the Pentagon's base budget,...
