National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020

Floor Speech

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Ms. OMAR. Madam Chair, my amendment mandates reporting on the financial costs and national security benefits of the Department of Defense's operations overseas. This includes the cost of operating, improving, and maintaining military infrastructures both on our permanent bases and installations and at short-term contingency locations.

In order for Congress to properly conduct its oversight and appropriation rules, we need to have a transparent explanation of how much each of these operations cost. We also need a transparent justification for how each of these operations contribute to keeping Americans safe.

We hear a constant drumbeat from the other side of the aisle on the need for fiscal responsibility when it comes to our domestic spending, but when it comes time to fund the Pentagon, no amount is too much, and no project is too expensive, even though we spend more on the military than the next 10 countries combined.

When we talk about fiscal responsibility and wasteful spending, the Pentagon must not be above reproach. We have to ask what is actually necessary for our national security and what is part of an outrageously bloated budget that lines the pockets of defense contractors.

So this amendment is an important step in accountability for the Pentagon spending. It is necessary for the department that cannot pass an audit. The American people deserve to know what their tax dollars are being spent on and not take it on blind faith that every dollar that is given to the Pentagon is a dollar that is protecting their safety.

It is especially true for our overseas operations. We send our men and women in uniform abroad and they are separated from their families not just to win in wars but to man the bases we maintain in places like Germany, Japan, and Honduras. We need to be asking them to do that for a reason. This is why my amendment requires the Pentagon to justify national security benefits of overseas operations.

So I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this amendment and making sure that we have an accountability in how we spend our taxpayer dollars.

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Ms. OMAR. Madam Chair, may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining.

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Ms. OMAR. Madam Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Smith), the distinguished chair.

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Ms. OMAR. Madam Chair, I agree with my colleague: It is our responsibility to have oversight. That is simply what this amendment does. It makes sure that we have an understanding of what our money is being spent on and the benefits that that money will get us.

We have to have a clear understanding of what the purposes are of the over 800 different military bases we have around the world and how much money it is costing us to continue to operate them. That is simply what we are asking for. That is what the American people want to know, and that is the kind of responsibility we shouldn't abdicate.

So I want to make sure that we have a report that clearly lays out the kind of money that is being spent and the kind of benefits that we are getting for it.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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