Ayotte Continues to Lead Push for Pentagon Audit

Press Release

Continuing to lead the push for a full and expedited audit of the Defense Department, U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) today questioned the two top U.S. Air Force officials about the challenges the Air Force faces in achieving an important audit milestone by 2014. With the nation facing a fiscal crisis, Senator Ayotte cited the need for reliable financial data to distinguish between necessary defense budget cuts and reductions that would harm troops and threaten military readiness. Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley and Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz testified before today's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

"Secretary Panetta has said that he wants the Department of Defense to achieve auditability of its statement of budgetary resources (SBR) by 2014." said Senator Ayotte. "As I understand it, the Air Force may have the most difficulty meeting this goal. With some of the tough choices you're asking us to make, having good financial data and making sure that DoD is auditable has to be a top priority."

Secretary Donley, who testified that becoming audit ready is important in order for the Air Force to gain "greater efficiency," responded that the Air Force has a "detailed plan for how to get there, but it's going to take a lot of focus and a lot of concentrated work."

Senator Ayotte authored an amendment to the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that would have required the Pentagon to complete a full statement of budget resources by September 30, 2014. The amendment passed the Senate unanimously, but was not included in the final bill. However, Senator Ayotte worked successfully to strengthen the final bill's report language to make it clear that Congress expects the Pentagon to meet Secretary Panetta's commitment to achieve a validated full statement of budget resources (SBR) by 2014. An SBR lists the funds the department received, the funds that were obligated, and what funds were ultimately spent.

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