Ayotte, McCain Introduce Legislation to Ensure Pentagon Audit Readiness By 2014
Press Release
Continuing her efforts to identify wasteful spending in the Pentagon's budget, U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), along with Senator John McCain (R-AZ), yesterday introduced the Department of Defense Audit Readiness Act of 2011 (S. 1790). This legislation would require the Department of Defense to ensure a validated full statement of budget resources (SBR) is completed by September 30, 2014. The SBR lists the funds the department received, the funds that were obligated, and what funds were ultimately spent.
On October 13, Secretary Panetta announced that he had directed the Department of Defense to cut in half the time it will take to achieve audit readiness for the SBR. This legislation would codify Secretary Panetta's commitment to achieve this important milestone.
"I applaud Secretary Panetta's commitment to achieve audit readiness for the statement of budgetary resources by 2014. As we make difficult budget decisions, we must have reliable financial data. We cannot afford to waste a single dollar as we seek to give our troops the resources they need. It is troubling that the Pentagon cannot fully track funds received, obligated and spent. This legislation will help ensure the Pentagon addresses this unacceptable situation as soon as possible," Senator Ayotte said.
During a Senate Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee hearing in July, Senator Ayotte underscored the need to find savings within the Department of Defense budget by identifying wasteful and duplicative spending at the Pentagon. She noted that DoD is one of the few agencies in the entire federal government that cannot pass an independent audit of its finances, and expressed concern that DoD needs more reliable data and financial management processes necessary to fully evaluate areas of potential savings. DoD's inability to be audited could limit its ability to successfully implement management controls and efficiency initiatives, achieve savings, and redirect increasingly scarce defense dollars to higher priorities.
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