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

IV ★ 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. GARCI´A 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 For- eign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regard- ing 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 Sep- tember 11, 2001, and has been at war constantly since then; VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:38 Jun 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1003.IH HR1003 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 HRES 1003 IH1S Whereas the Pentagon’s budget in fiscal year 2020 totaled $738,000,000,000, including for base and Overseas Con- tingency 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 dip- lomatic 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, hous- ing, 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 Depart- ment 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 Novem- ber 2019 uncovered 1,300 new deficiencies; Whereas in 32 cases Pentagon contractors provided false in- formation about their ownership and were accused or found guilty of price gouging, providing poor-quality goods and services, abusing programs intended for small VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:38 Jun 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1003.IH HR1003 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 HRES 1003 IH1S businesses, and improperly disseminating sensitive infor- mation; Whereas the Pentagon continues to reveal high levels of waste and fraud, including, for example— (1) the Pentagon awarded a $7,000,000 cloud-com- puting 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 rec- ommendations than any other agency; Whereas it remains Congress’ intent to reduce defense waste, increase transparency, and reduce or eliminate poor man- agement practices at the Department of Defense; Whereas Congress remains deeply concerned about the De- partment 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 de- stabilized the region and show no sign of actually ending or achieving any of the long-ago stated goals; VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:38 Jun 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1003.IH HR1003 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 HRES 1003 IH1S Whereas interviews with senior military leaders and other senior officials showed many believed the war in Afghani- stan 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 de- fense Overseas Contingency Operations, which has en- abled 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 func- tions 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 Oper- ations funds, especially for the cost of ‘‘enduring require- ments’’ rather than unexpected emergencies is the oppo- site 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 im- moral 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 exces- sively large United States nuclear arsenal is projected by the Congressional Budget Office at nearly $500,000,000,000 between fiscal years 2019 and 2028; VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:38 Jun 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1003.IH HR1003 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 HRES 1003 IH1S Whereas world military spending totaled more than $1,600,000,000,000 in 2015, with the United States ac- counting 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 fund- ing, 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 Ameri- cans indicate they do not want Pentagon funding in- creases and a University of Maryland poll in July 2018 found that Republicans and Democrats alike would sup- port large-scale Federal spending cuts to defense; Whereas the Pentagon must realign its security mission, in- terests, and values to ensure our Nation is spending tax- VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:38 Jun 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1003.IH HR1003 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 HRES 1003 IH1S payers’ 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 rein- vested in other important domestic priorities to help re- duce poverty and increase economic opportunity in com- munities across the country; and Whereas the Pentagon could significantly decrease its spend- ing 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 sav- ing $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 lev- els 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:38 Jun 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1003.IH HR1003 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 HRES 1003 IH1S Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep- 1 resentatives that— 2 (1) Congress maintains that more money to the 3 Pentagon does not buy us more security; 4 (2) it remains Congress’ intent to reduce de- 5 fense waste, increase transparency, and reduce or 6 eliminate poor management practices at the Depart- 7 ment of Defense; 8 (3) Congress can and should make significant 9 cuts to the budget of the Pentagon while simulta- 10 neously improving support for the members of the 11 Armed Forces, by reducing unnecessary spending 12 and reinvesting in our troops; 13 (4) Congress must exercise aggressive oversight 14 to track and account for the money that is being 15 spent and to ensure the Department of Defense fol- 16 lows through with performing annual audits, imple- 17 menting recommendations, and achieving a clean 18 audit as quickly as possible; 19 (5) Congress encourages the Department of De- 20 fense to complete its full audit before the end of the 21 calendar year and report back to Congress imme- 22 diately; 23 (6) Congress encourages the Department of 24 State and other agencies to use combined power of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:38 Jun 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1003.IH HR1003 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 HRES 1003 IH1S diplomacy, foreign assistance, and a strong and fair 1 economy to ensure our Nation is safe; 2 (7) Congress supports the elimination of the 3 Overseas Contingency Operations account which 4 makes waging war too easy; and 5 (8) Congress supports moves to reduce the pri- 6 ority given to war in our foreign policy and our cur- 7 rent war-based national economy by using signifi- 8 cant cuts, up to $350,000,000,000 as detailed above, 9 from current budget plans, while using the funds to 10 increase our diplomatic capacity and for domestic 11 programs that will keep our Nation and our people 12 safer. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:38 Jun 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR1003.IH HR1003 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS