
In their $576 billion defense spending bill, House appropriators mimicked the authorizing committee’s approach to increase funding for the military by shorting the wartime spending account—thereby forcing the next president to ask for more money next year.The House Appropriations defense subcommittee’s draft bill, released late on Tuesday, contains $517 billion in base budget funding—about $587 million less than the administration’s budget request—and $59 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). As in the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) budget, about $16…