The Defense Department’s overseas contingency budget might survive the end of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wednesday, two of the Pentagon’s top civilian and uniformed leaders asked the House Armed Services Committee to keep authorizing an OCO budget even after the U.S. finishes the draw- downs in the region. DoD’s latest OCO request came late in the year, and it’s less than Congress anticipated. The House set aside $79 billion for OCO funding when it passed DoD’s baseline budget for fiscal 2015, but now the Pentagon is only asking for about $59 billion. Todd Harrison is senior fellow for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. He explained how the budget deliberations on Capitol Hill might unfold on In Depth with guest host Jared Serbu.

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