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Pentagon to hike spending request to fund fight versus Islamic State
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[February 02, 2016]
By Phil Stewart and Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack
Obama's administration will seek a significant increase in funding for
the fight against Islamic State as part of its 2017 defense budget
request, U.S. officials say, in another possible sign of U.S. efforts to
intensify the campaign.
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The fiscal year 2017 Pentagon budget will call for more than $7
billion for the fight against Islamic State, a roughly 35 percent
increase compared with the previous year's request to Congress, the
officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is due to disclose his spending
priorities for the $583 billion 2017 defense budget on Tuesday in an
address to the Economic Club of Washington. The White House plans to
release Obama's full budget proposal for fiscal 2017, which begins
Oct. 1, on Feb. 9.
Carter in his speech is expected to cite his intent to increase the
administration's request for funds to battle Islamic State,
officials say, although it was unclear how much detail he would
offer.
He was also expected to touch on other budget priorities, including
plans to increase spending to reassure European allies following
Russia's intervention in Ukraine, and the need for the United States
to maintain its military edge over China and Russia.
Carter's budget will underscore the need for Washington to fund a
new Air Force bomber awarded last year to Northrop Grumman Corp, a
replacement for the Ohio-class submarines that carry nuclear
weapons, and to start replacing a fleet of nuclear-armed
intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to a source briefed
on the plans.
The proposed budget will also seek to boost spending for several key
priorities, including increased cybersecurity, electronic warfare
and increased security for crucial U.S. satellites, the source said.
Lockheed Martin Corp, maker of the F-35 fighter jet, Boeing Co and
other big weapons makers are anxiously awaiting details about the
budget and how it will affect their programs.
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Senior defense officials have said that $15 billion in cuts required
under a two-year budget agreement with Congress last year would
largely come from procurement accounts since personnel costs and
operations costs were harder to cut.
One official noted that spending on the Islamic State fight was
expected to be drawn from the roughly $59 billion Overseas
Contingency Operations account, or OCO, a separate budget that
supplements the larger, $524 billion base budget for fiscal year
2017.
Still, key details on the more than $7 billion request were unclear,
including whether the funding applied to operations outside Iraq and
Syria.
The disclosure about plans for an increased spending request to
combat Islamic State came as the Obama administration seeks to
intensify its campaign, looking to capitalize on recent battlefield
gains against the militants in Iraq.
Carter has called a meeting later this month in Brussels with
defense ministers from all 26 military members of the anti-Islamic
State coalition, as well as Iraq. He is asking them to come prepared
to discuss further contributions to the fight.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Andrea Shalal; Editing by James
Dalgleish)
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