* The Defense Department plans to ask for a massive increase in funds for an account criticized as a "slush fund."
* The Pentagon's base budget for fiscal year 2020 is capped at $576 billion. The Trump administration is seeking about $150 billion more.
* The account was meant to be an emergency fund for if the US suddenly became engaged in a full-on war, but it has frequently been used as a loophole for the budget cap.
The US Defense Department is planning to ask Congress for a massive increase to a controversial war account often criticized as a "slush fund" in order to circumvent mandatory spending limits, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the discussions.
The increase would amount to a reversal for President Donald Trump's White House budget director, former Republican Rep. Mick Mulvaney, who for years campaigned against what he saw as former President Barack Obama's abuse of the account, calling it a "slush fund."
After he was tapped for the job, Mulvaney told Senate lawmakers that he would seek to eliminate the fund altogether.
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WNU Editor: It is odd that the Pentagon wants a massive increase in this fund while the focus from the White House is to withdraw from the two major wars that the U.S. is currently involved in (Syria and Afghanistan). And what is even more odd is that they did not spend as much of this money last year .... Pentagon Had $28 Billion In Funds That It Did Not Spend (January 10, 2019).
