WASHINGTON — President Trump's nominee to become the nation's budget director, Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., said he will press the president to stop skirting budget caps by using the war budget.
Appearing before the Senate Budget Committee on Tuesday, Mulvaney signaled he would continue to fight abuses of the overseas contingency operations (OCO) account.
Over the last two years, Mulvaney and lawmakers of both parties have partnered on bills to stop using OCO money for base-budget activities. He has also opposed increases in defense spending that are not accompanied by cuts to non-defense spending,
"I will look forward to explaining to the president why I think it's not a good way to spend taxpayer dollars," Mulvaney said in an exchange with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., an ally on the issue.
In an exchange with Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Mulvaney agreed the use of OCO to solve budget problems has been "dishonest." "That's just the word I was going to use," Mulvaney said.
Mulvaney also told Corker he believed the Pentagon was functioning well on the goal of defending the country, but on acquisitions programs he said: "I look forward to doing more investigation and possibly reforming there, when possible."
When Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, urged Mulvaney to get a long-delayed Pentagon audit accomplished or "clean house in the chief financial office," Mulvaney agreed.
Mulvaney said he was pleased by talks with Defense Secretary James Mattis, "who I believe shares, your, my and apparently the president's commitment to drive efficiencies into operations the Defense Department."
The prospect of Mulvaney as budget director has alarmed some some congressional defense hawks, but one of them — fellow South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham — said Mulvaney will hew to the president's defense buildup plans.
"To those on the defense side, he will follow the call of the president to increase defense spending," Graham said.
Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.
