When the Biden Administration put out its “skinny” budget outline of the FY22 “discretionary” budget request, the office of Management and Budget (OMB) had this to say:  

“The discretionary request also discontinues requests for Overseas Contingency Operations as a separate funding category, instead funding direct war costs and enduring operations in the DOD base budget, a significant budgetary reform.” 

We could hardly contain our giddiness at the end of this abusive budgetary practice. We’ve long advocated for its end and for a real debate on a resource-informed national defense strategy. But we’ve also been in Washington for a few years, 26 and counting, and we’ve seen a thing or three happen when an Administration thinks it has made a huge decision like this. 

So, we were delighted to crack open the Pentagon budget tome and discover our dreams have come true. Now, will Congress go along with this momentous, shape-shifting, ground-shaking decision? 

We’ll see.