Tell Congress to crack down on fraud, waste, and abuse in the Defense Department
Petition to Congress:
Crack down on the lack of transparency at the Pentagon and the fraud, waste, and abuse at the Defense Deparment in the next defense budget!
Failing any kind of audit once is bad. The Pentagon just failed its SIXTH audit in a row.1
Time and again, the Pentagon fails to report to Congress how it’s spending its billions of dollars. This makes it harder for Congress to be a check on military use of force and its potential misuse of resources.
House Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal said, “The Pentagon has never passed an audit and for decades has been plagued by waste, fraud, and abuse.”2 That continues to be true after the Pentagon failed yet another audit.
This is inexcusable. The Defense Department continues asking for hundreds of billions of dollars a year — money that is left untracked and unaccounted for. Congress must ensure that Defense officials comply with federal law and present clear, full, transparent reports to Congress on its spending.
Sign the petition: Congress must force the Pentagon to comply with reporting laws and crack down on wasteful, secret defense spending immediately!
The Defense Department has no excuse for obstructing Congress’ military oversight.
Congress has the authority to know when and how the military is using force. The House and Senate have the authority to act as a check on the military’s use of force. But Congress cannot exercise these authorities without clear, timely, transparent information from the Defense Department.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has said the Defense Department is “playing a shell-game with American taxpayers.”3 The secrecy, the lack of accountability, for billions of dollars of public money is simply not how a democracy should work.
The Defense Department cannot continue to block Congress from exercising its legal authority. It cannot continue to withhold information from our elected representatives. It’s time for Congress to take extra, necessary steps to stop fraud, waste, and abuse in the next defense budget, and ensure it can exercise its oversight powers effectively!
Add your name: End rampant and unaccountable waste in defense spending.
Sources:
- The Intercept, “Pentagon Fails Sixth Audit in a Row, Claiming 'Progress Sort of Beneath the Surface,'” November 17, 2023.
- Office of Representative Pramila Jayapal, “Jayapal, McClintock, Davidson, Garamendi, Moulton Introduce Bipartisan Solution to Cut Wasteful Pentagon Spending,” July 19, 2023.
- Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren, “Warren Calls on Pentagon to Rein in 'End-of-Year Money Grab,'” December 6, 2022.