Close this war account

President Obama’s budget, released March 4, requests an additional $80 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations, a part of the budget separate from the core Pentagon spending that is used to fund overseas wars. Overseas Contingency Operations was created to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. With those wars over or almost over, this account can now disappear.

Instead, it threatens to become a permanent fund that could help the Pentagon get around the effect of budget cuts, a luxury employed by no other part of the government.

I would encourage people to find out more about the Overseas Contingency Operations at fcnl.org/budget and to contact your senators (in Idaho, Sen. Mike Crapo and Sen. Jim Risch) to ask them not to fund this part of the budget.

Let’s reinvest the money we’ve been spending on war on other priorities such as infrastructure and education, not provide extra padding for the Pentagon’s already well-endowed budget.

Donna Nordstrom

Hayden