Rep. Michael Waltz, R-FL: “How much do you think the Air Force pays for this bag of bushings?”
Sec. Kendall: “I don’t know Congressman.”
Waltz: “$90,000″
It’s no secret the United States spends extraordinary sums on the military. This year, Congress approved an $824 billion budget for the Pentagon. But not all that money goes to good use. There’s a bipartisan effort to reduce wasteful and ill-advised spending.
Rep. Michael Waltz, R-FL: “The interest on our debt alone is now exceeding the entire defense budget. We can’t afford it anymore.”
Here are a few examples
The Littoral Combat Ship costs have soared from $200 million per unit to $600 million.
The Gerald R Ford class aircraft carrier program was initially projected to cost $13.3 billion, it skyrocketed to more than $120 billion.
Some of the waste is attributed to mistakes and disorganization. Some of it is price gouging. In 2023, Senators Grassley and Sanders said contractors routinely over charge the military by 40-50%, with the highest incident hitting 4,451%.
Rep. Glenn Grothman R-WI: “The department has consistently failed comprehensive audits revealing significant problems in accounting and data management. The lack of financial accountability leads to waste and abuse of taxpayer funds.”
There are multiple solutions to this. One is to be smarter about which tools are used in certain situations. For instance, the US has fired $2.1 million missiles to shoot down $2000 Houthi drones in the middle east.
Rep. Glenn Grothman R-WI: “The American taxpayer cannot afford to spend millions of dollars on single shot missiles when more cost effective solutions would exist to counter $100 drones, we must act like money is free,”
Another solution – open up government contracts to more businesses, particularly small businesses.
Rep. Virginia Foxx- R-N.C.: “I’m very concerned that the department has grown so reliant on a shrinking number of commercial firms which stifles competition and leads to increased costs.”
Moshe Schwartz National Defense Industrial Association: “It is the regulations, it is the bureaucracy. “
But for all the efforts to fix this, it doesn’t look like it’ll be entirely solved any time soon. The pentagon has failed six audits in a row and the problems run deep.
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