H. Res. 476 — Resolution on Wasteful Pentagon Spending and Cuts to the Defense Budget (House, June 15, 2021)
Summary
House resolution H. Res. 476 of the 117th Congress, 1st Session, was submitted June 15, 2021, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding wasteful Pentagon spending and supporting cuts to the bloated defense budget. Lee of California submitted it for herself and others named in the heading, and it was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The preamble states that the Pentagon’s budget in fiscal year 2021 totaled $740,500,000,000, and lists ways to reduce spending, including closing 60 percent of foreign bases and saving $90,000,000,000. The resolved clause states that more money to the Pentagon does not buy more security and that Congress supports significant cuts, up to $350,000,000,000, from current budget plans.
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- Bills Bills 117Hres476Ih Bills 117Hres476Ih
Cite this document
“H. Res. 476 — Resolution on Wasteful Pentagon Spending and Cuts to the Defense Budget (House, June 15, 2021).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/bills-bills-117hres476ih-bills-117hres476ih/
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IV
117TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. RES. 476
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, 2021
Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms.
OMAR, and Mr. DESAULNIER) 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 deter-
mined 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 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 and obligated an esti-
mated $6,400,000,000,000 on military operations since
September 11, 2001, and has been at war constantly
since then;
Whereas the Pentagon’s budget in fiscal year 2021 totaled
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$740,500,000,000, including for base and Overseas Con-
tingency Operations;
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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 Comptroller estimated that the Department of
Defense would not be able to pass an audit until 2027;
Whereas the Department of Defense made
$35,000,000,000,000 in accounting changes in a single
year;
Whereas the coronavirus pandemic has made clear that Pen-
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tagon spending has not kept us safe from the major driv-
ers of insecurity we face in the 21st century;
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Whereas in fiscal year 2020, $10,500,000,000 was appro-
priated to the Pentagon in the CARES Act above its reg-
ular fiscal year appropriations, for a total of
$756,500,000,000 in fiscal year 2020;
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
businesses, and improperly disseminating sensitive infor-
mation;
Whereas the cost of a single F–35 could have purchased over
2,800 ventilators to respond to COVID–19;
Whereas the Pentagon continues to reveal high levels of
waste and fraud, including, for example—
(1) the Pentagon diverted $1,000,000,000 in funds
intended for personal protective equipment to prevent the
spread of COVID for defense contractors to produce jet
engine parts, body armor, and dress uniforms;
(2) the Pentagon awarded a $7,000,000 cloud-com-
puting contract to a 1-person company;
(3) the Defense Logistics Agency lost track of
$800,000,000 in construction projects;
(4) in 2019, the Pentagon spent $4,600,000 on crab
and lobster in an end-of-the-year spree;
(5) the Department of Defense Inspector General
found the Pentagon had to spend $300,000,000 to repair
defective spare parts for the $1,400,000,000,000 F–35
Joint Strike Fighter program; and
(6) in fiscal year 2020, the Department of Defense
made $5,000,000,000 in improper payments;
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Whereas the military budget accounts for more than half of
all discretionary spending;
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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’s intent to reduce defense
waste, increase transparency, and reduce or eliminate
poor management practices at the Department of De-
fense;
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
the 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;
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
2021, Congress provided $69,000,000,000 for defense
Overseas Contingency Operations, which has enabled con-
tinuing military actions and wars in several countries,
without specific congressional authorization and many al-
most hidden from the American people;
Whereas the continual use of Overseas Contingency Oper-
ations funds, especially for the cost of ‘‘enduring require-
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ments’’ rather than unexpected emergencies is the oppo-
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site of a ‘‘contingency account’’ and has resulted in less
oversight, less transparency, and higher levels of waste;
Whereas nearly $1,900,000,000,000 in appropriations has
gone into the Overseas Contingency Operations account
since 2001;
Whereas elimination of the Overseas Contingency Operations
account removes a make-war-easy budget gimmick, but
does not address spending that has grown significantly to
fund wars and military actions overseas, which Congress
has yet to authorize;
Whereas the Department of Defense abused emergency pow-
ers to transfer approximately $10,000,000,000 in De-
partment of Defense funds to build an unnecessary and
immoral wall at the southern border;
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;
Whereas world military spending totaled more than
$1,917,000,000,000 in 2019, with the United States ac-
counting for 38 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
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wasteful defense spending and would still be spending
more on the military than China, Russia, Iran, and
North Korea combined;
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Whereas, despite concerns about depriving the troops of fund-
ing, in 2019 half the military budget went directly to
military manufacturing corporations whose top five CEOs
in 2018 averaged $22,000,000 in salaries, while 15.3 per-
cent of members of the Armed Forces serving on active
duty and their families reported they were food insecure;
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-
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 war funding absorbed into the base
budget upon closure of the Overseas Contingency Oper-
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ations account;
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(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 redundant and wasteful Space
Force and saving $15,200,000,000;
(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) completing President Biden’s announced plans
to withdraw all United States troops from Afghanistan
by September 11, 2021, and reducing spending accord-
ingly: Now, therefore, be it
1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
2 resentatives that—
3 (1) more money to the Pentagon does not buy
4 us more security;
5 (2) Congress intends to reduce defense waste,
6 increase transparency, and reduce or eliminate poor
7 management practices at the Department of De-
8 fense;
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9 (3) Congress can and should make significant
10 cuts to the budget of the Pentagon while simulta-
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1 neously improving support for the members of the
2 Armed Forces by reducing unnecessary spending
3 and reinvesting in our troops;
4 (4) Congress must exercise aggressive oversight
5 to track and account for the money that is being
6 spent and to ensure the Department of Defense fol-
7 lows through with performing annual audits, imple-
8 menting recommendations, and achieving a clean
9 audit as quickly as possible;
10 (5) Congress encourages the Department of De-
11 fense to complete its full audit before the end of the
12 calendar year and report back to Congress imme-
13 diately;
14 (6) Congress encourages the Department of
15 State and other agencies to use combined power of
16 diplomacy, foreign assistance, and a strong and fair
17 economy to ensure our Nation is safe;
18 (7) Congress supports the elimination of the
19 Overseas Contingency Operations account which
20 makes waging war too easy; and
21 (8) Congress supports moves to reduce the pri-
22 ority given to war in our foreign policy and our cur-
23 rent war-based national economy by using signifi-
24 cant cuts, up to $350,000,000,000 as detailed above,
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25 from current budget plans, while using the funds to
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1 increase our diplomatic capacity and for domestic
2 programs that will keep our Nation and our people
3 safer.
Æ
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