Study commissioned by Sen. Sanders finds waste, fraud at Pentagon
by Guy Page
An August, 2021 government study requested by Senate Finance Chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT) finds that the U.S. Department of Defense has been wasting money.
Entitled DOD Fraud Risk Management, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported “in 2018, DOD reported to Congress that from fiscal years 2013-2017, over $6.6 billion had been recovered from defense-contracting fraud cases. In 2020, the DOD Office of Inspector General reported that roughly one-in-five of its ongoing investigations are related to procurement fraud.” Its recommendations basically urge official Washington to look harder for fraud.
Sanders – who has called for cutting the Pentagon budget since graduating from the University of Chicago in 1964 (and probably before then, too) – as Senate Finance chair is finally in a position to affect American military spending.
“The Pentagon doesn’t seem to want to get serious about combating the fraud, waste, and financial mismanagement that has been its legacy for decades,” said Sen. Sanders in a statement today. “They don’t seem to want to get serious about spending taxpayer dollars wisely and effectively. Well, I think we can all agree, that is absolutely unacceptable. Currently, the U.S. spends more on our nation’s military than the next thirteen countries combined.”
As Sanders also has been saying for a half-century, he prefers spending taxpayer money on butter, not guns.
“Meanwhile, half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck, just under 40 million Americans are living in poverty, and over 600,000 Americans are homeless including roughly 40,000 veterans,” Sanders said.
What’s different now is that Sanders must find money for his $3.5 trillion makeover of the American economic system currently in Congress. He knows tax hikes will be unpopular and all fingers will be pointing at him.
Maybe that’s why he’s pointing his at the Pentagon.