McCaskill Questions Defense Chief on U.S. Efforts to Combat Islamic State Abroad

At Senate Armed Services hearing, Senator discusses refugee issues and efforts to combat extremism

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill this week used a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to discuss with Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter U.S. efforts to combat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and the serious refugee crisis in neighboring Jordan, which she recently visited.

“I had an opportunity to be in Jordan a few weeks ago and visited with both our military—our terrific military leaders there—and also with the Jordanian military,” said McCaskill, a senior member of the Armed Services Committee. “I am worried about the 15,000 people along that border that are now sitting there because they’re not being allowed to come in to Jordan. As you all focus on northern Syria, I’m wondering what if anything you can tell me about the drifting of [the Islamic State] to the southern region along this border where we now have 15,000 people just on the other side of the border from Jordan.

Secretary of Defense Carter responded, “First of all, thanks for going there and seeing our guys and gals, and our fantastic partners in the Jordanians. And you’re right, on a per capita basis [Jordan] has absorbed this enormous refugee situation and yes, we were talking a lot about the northern parts of Iraq and Syria, but we’re very mindful of both southern Iraq and southern Syria.”

McCaskill recently led a national security-focused overseas Congressional delegation, which included a visit to the Jordanian border.

McCaskill also used the hearing to blast the use of the Overseas Contingency Operations fund as a budget gimmick in military spending bills in an attempt to get around the current caps on federal spending, saying: “The only reason [these funds] are in two different budgets is an artificial cap put on by Congress to try to pretend to the American people that we’re balancing something.”

Earlier this month, McCaskill used a hearing with top military leaders to call on her colleagues to properly budget for military operations. Federal budget caps currently in place are set to force a further reduction in the U.S. military’s force size in the coming years. In order to avoid further cuts to the force, McCaskill has persistently called on the Republican leaders in Congress to lift those “arbitrary” budget caps, so investments can be made to secure both the base defense budget and security needs at home.

Instead, the strategy has been to pump resources into the Pentagon’s off-the-books war budget, known as the “Overseas Contingency Operations” fund. McCaskill has likened that move to a dishonest “slush fund” since that fund does not have to be off-set or paid-for, and cannot be used by military leaders to maintain force structure—meaning that even with those resources, the military would be required to continue shrinking the force. 

Visit mccaskill.senate.gov/defense to learn more about McCaskill’s fight to protect our national security. 

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