Title: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding wasteful Pentagon spending and supporting cuts to the bloated defense budget.
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress supports (1) reducing waste at the Department of Defense (DOD), (2) making cuts to DOD's budget while simultaneously improving support for members of the Armed Forces, (3) exercising aggressive oversight over DOD, (4) eliminating the Overseas Contingency Operations account, and (5) reallocating certain defense funds to instead support U.S. diplomacy and domestic programs.
The resolution encourages (1) DOD to complete its full audit before the end of the year and report back to Congress immediately; and (2) the Department of State and other agencies to ensure U.S. safety through diplomacy, foreign assistance, and a strong economy.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1003 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1003

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding wasteful 
  Pentagon spending and supporting cuts to the bloated defense budget.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 15, 2020

    Ms. Lee of California (for herself, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. 
Grijalva, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Ms. 
   Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. 
 Schakowsky, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Omar, and Mr. McGovern) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
                        the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding wasteful 
  Pentagon spending and supporting cuts to the bloated defense budget.

Whereas Pentagon spending since 9/11 adjusted for inflation has increased by 
        almost 50 percent;
Whereas the United States has spent an estimated $6,000,000,000,000 on military 
        operations since September 11, 2001, and has been at war constantly 
        since then;
Whereas the Pentagon's budget in fiscal year 2020 totaled $738,000,000,000, 
        including for base and Overseas Contingency Operations;
Whereas while Pentagon spending continues to rise, spending on diplomacy has 
        stalled or been reduced, resulting in an overreliance on military action 
        and insufficient use of diplomatic and other nonmilitary tools;
Whereas only one-third of discretionary spending is available for important 
        domestic priorities that help reduce poverty and inequality, including 
        public health, education, housing, energy, diplomacy, and others;
Whereas the Pentagon failed its first ever agencywide audit in November 2018;
Whereas the Department of Defense spent nearly $1,000,000,000 in activities 
        related to the 2018 audit and achieving an agencywide audit could take 
        years if it is to ever achieve one, let alone pass;
Whereas the audit revealed significant technology systems, security, and 
        organizational deficiencies in the Department of Defense's financial 
        management systems;
Whereas the Pentagon's first ever agencywide audit occurred nearly 30 years 
        after the passage of the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, which 
        established the requirement for annual audits of financial statements 
        for Federal agencies;
Whereas the Pentagon's second agencywide audit in November 2019 uncovered 1,300 
        new deficiencies;
Whereas in 32 cases Pentagon contractors provided false information about their 
        ownership and were accused or found guilty of price gouging, providing 
        poor-quality goods and services, abusing programs intended for small 
        businesses, and improperly disseminating sensitive information;
Whereas the Pentagon continues to reveal high levels of waste and fraud, 
        including, for example--

    (1) the Pentagon awarded a $7,000,000 cloud-computing contract to a 1-
person company;

    (2) the Defense Logistics Agency lost track of $800,000,000 in 
construction projects;

    (3) last year, the Pentagon spent $4,600,000 on crab and lobster in an-
end-of-the-year spree; and

    (4) the Pentagon had no way to track replacement parts for the 
$1,400,000,000,000 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program;

Whereas the military budget accounts for more than half of all discretionary 
        spending;
Whereas according to the Government Accountability Office, the Department of 
        Defense has more unheeded audit recommendations than any other agency;
Whereas it remains Congress' intent to reduce defense waste, increase 
        transparency, and reduce or eliminate poor management practices at the 
        Department of Defense;
Whereas Congress remains deeply concerned about the Department of Defense's 
        inability to achieve an unqualified audit opinion as it is the only 
        Federal agency yet to pass one;
Whereas every hour taxpayers are paying $32,080,000 for total cost of wars since 
        2001, and these endless wars have not made Americans safer or brought 
        democracy or stability to the Middle East, indeed they have further 
        destabilized the region and show no sign of actually ending or achieving 
        any of the long-ago stated goals;
Whereas interviews with senior military leaders and other senior officials 
        showed many believed the war in Afghanistan to be unwinnable and 
        knowingly misled the public for years;
Whereas in addition to defense base spending in fiscal year 2020, Congress 
        provided close to $72,000,000,000 for defense Overseas Contingency 
        Operations, which has enabled continuing military actions and wars in 
        several countries, without specific congressional authorization and many 
        almost hidden from the American people;
Whereas the Overseas Contingency Operations account functions as a make-war-easy 
        budget gimmick, and has grown significantly to fund wars and military 
        actions overseas, which Congress has yet to authorize;
Whereas the continual use of Overseas Contingency Operations funds, especially 
        for the cost of ``enduring requirements'' rather than unexpected 
        emergencies is the opposite of a ``contingency account'' and has 
        resulted in less oversight, less transparency, and higher levels of 
        waste;
Whereas $1,800,000,000,000 in appropriations has gone into the Overseas 
        Contingency Operations account since 2001;
Whereas the Department of Defense transferred $6,100,000,000 in previously 
        appropriated fiscal year 2019 department funds to build an unnecessary 
        and immoral wall at the southern border and is planning to transfer an 
        additional $7,200,000,000 in fiscal year 2020 appropriated funds for the 
        wall;
Whereas spending on sustaining and modernizing the excessively large United 
        States nuclear arsenal is projected by the Congressional Budget Office 
        at nearly $500,000,000,000 between fiscal years 2019 and 2028;
Whereas world military spending totaled more than $1,600,000,000,000 in 2015, 
        with the United States accounting for 37 percent of the total;
Whereas the United States spends more on defense spending than the next seven 
        countries in the world, including China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the 
        United Kingdom, India, France, and Japan, combined;
Whereas the United States could save an estimated $350,000,000,000 per year by 
        cutting defense spending on our endless wars and by cutting unnecessary 
        and wasteful defense spending and would still be spending more on the 
        military than China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea combined;
Whereas despite concerns about depriving the troops of funding, half the 
        military budget goes directly to military manufacturing corporations 
        whose top five CEOs in 2016 averaged $19,000,000 in salaries, while 
        23,000 active-duty United States servicemembers and their families 
        qualified for food stamps because their salaries are too low;
Whereas there have been significant deficiencies in the health and safety of 
        housing for military families, including mold blooms, collapsed 
        ceilings, exposed lead paint, and unsafe drinking water;
Whereas in recent public opinion polls, a majority of Americans indicate they do 
        not want Pentagon funding increases and a University of Maryland poll in 
        July 2018 found that Republicans and Democrats alike would support 
        large-scale Federal spending cuts to defense;
Whereas the Pentagon must realign its security mission, interests, and values to 
        ensure our Nation is spending taxpayers' dollars wisely and that our 
        military spending does not distort our budget by maintaining a war 
        economy, or encourage too frequent reliance on military rather than 
        diplomatic options;
Whereas any spending cuts to the Pentagon could be reinvested in other important 
        domestic priorities to help reduce poverty and increase economic 
        opportunity in communities across the country; and
Whereas the Pentagon could significantly decrease its spending by--

    (1) eliminating the Overseas Contingency Operations account and saving 
$68,800,000,000;

    (2) closing 60 percent of foreign bases and saving $90,000,000,000;

    (3) ending wars and war funding and saving $66,000,000,000;

    (4) cutting unnecessary weapons that are obsolete, excessive, and 
dangerous and saving $57,900,000,000;

    (5) cutting military overhead by 15 percent and saving $38,000,000,000;

    (6) cutting private service contracting by 15 percent and saving 
$26,000,000,000;

    (7) eliminating the proposal for the Space Force and saving 
$2,600,000,000;

    (8) ending use-it-or-lose-it contract spending and saving 
$18,000,000,000;

    (9) freezing operations and maintenance budget levels and saving 
$6,000,000,000; and

    (10) reducing United States presence in Afghanistan by half and saving 
$23,150,000,000: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) Congress maintains that more money to the Pentagon does 
        not buy us more security;
            (2) it remains Congress' intent to reduce defense waste, 
        increase transparency, and reduce or eliminate poor management 
        practices at the Department of Defense;
            (3) Congress can and should make significant cuts to the 
        budget of the Pentagon while simultaneously improving support 
        for the members of the Armed Forces, by reducing unnecessary 
        spending and reinvesting in our troops;
            (4) Congress must exercise aggressive oversight to track 
        and account for the money that is being spent and to ensure the 
        Department of Defense follows through with performing annual 
        audits, implementing recommendations, and achieving a clean 
        audit as quickly as possible;
            (5) Congress encourages the Department of Defense to 
        complete its full audit before the end of the calendar year and 
        report back to Congress immediately;
            (6) Congress encourages the Department of State and other 
        agencies to use combined power of diplomacy, foreign 
        assistance, and a strong and fair economy to ensure our Nation 
        is safe;
            (7) Congress supports the elimination of the Overseas 
        Contingency Operations account which makes waging war too easy; 
        and
            (8) Congress supports moves to reduce the priority given to 
        war in our foreign policy and our current war-based national 
        economy by using significant cuts, up to $350,000,000,000 as 
        detailed above, from current budget plans, while using the 
        funds to increase our diplomatic capacity and for domestic 
        programs that will keep our Nation and our people safer.
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