National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

For those who are interested in fiscal responsibility, this amendment would freeze Department of Defense spending until the Pentagon is able to pass an audit--able to pass an audit. This freeze could be waived by the President if it would harm our national security. And my amendment excludes spending for Wounded Warriors and defense personnel accounts as well as for overseas contingency operations.

Though defense spending currently accounts for over 20 percent of our Federal budget, DOD remains one of the few Federal agencies unable to pass an independent audit. This leaves the Pentagon vulnerable to serious waste and fraud. A recent GAO review of selected major weapons systems found that $70 billion had been lost through waste, mainly due to ``poor management and execution problems.'' Tens of billions more have been paid to fraudulent contractors.

I remember back in 2002, then-Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld admitted that he could not account for $2.3 trillion in Pentagon expenditures. For over two decades, the Pentagon has been under obligation to face an audit, and currently it must be auditable by September 2017. But recent status reports have raised serious concerns that this goal will not be met.

Waste and fraud in the Pentagon have serious consequences, both for our fiscal stability and our national security. My amendment provides a real incentive for the Pentagon finally to pass an audit. It is irresponsible to continue what Secretary Gates has called the gusher of defense spending without ensuring that we know where taxpayer dollars are going.

I believe this is a commonsense idea. It is also a bipartisan one. My amendment is very similar to a proposal that Senator Coburn made to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform on which I also served last year. It is a constitutional requirement that ``a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.'' Well, these are very difficult financial times, and we're faced with difficult choices and the prospect of cutting critical government programs. This accounting of funds has become more important than ever, including the Pentagon.

I yield 1 minute of my remaining time to the gentlewoman from California, Barbara Lee.

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Chairman, it seems to me, since we agree, that the problem is that the Pentagon has never explained where its money is going, and because there are waivers within this, that anything declared in need of national defense, and we certainly take care of our troops, will be excluded from the legislation, that it is time, finally. It's not just the last year, the year before, the year before that. It's been about 20 years before the Pentagon itself has explained where all the money goes.

And being such a huge part of our budget, it seems like now would be a good time, particularly because there are so many open doors left in this so that our national security and our troops are in no way jeopardized by my bill. I would really appreciate all of us being able to work together to make sure that the taxpayers know where this huge amount of money is going. The time is long overdue.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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