FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

11-27-2018

Contact: Aaron White Phone: 202-225-5506, Aaron.White@mail.house.gov

La Crosse – Today, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind criticized the Pentagon for a flagrant misuse of taxpayer dollars due to a lack of financial oversight in daily operations. The Department of Defense recently released the results of the agency’s first-ever full financial audit, which earned a failing grade due to financial noncompliance and mismanagement of expensive military assets.

“This failed audit shows the uncontrolled mismanagement within the Department of Defense. The Pentagon’s brazen misuse of hardworking Wisconsinites’ tax dollars is unacceptable, and should be remedied immediately,” said Rep. Ron Kind. “The Defense Department needs to act quickly to create more transparency and efficiency within the department, and work together with Congress to redirect money to our Servicemembers.”

This comes after the release of a 2015 report exposing the Pentagon for wastefully spending $125 billion of taxpayer funds on inefficient administrative costs. The 2015 report was requested internally by Pentagon leaders to help ease bureaucracy within the Defense Department, but the findings were suppressed to avoid embarrassment for the department.

Rep. Kind has long fought to cut wasteful spending and increase government transparency. In May, he introduced the bipartisan Wasteful Defense Spending Reduction Act, which would establish a commission to review defense programs and recommend wasteful and outdated programs to be eliminated. Following the release of the commission’s report, Congress would have 90 days to vote on a joint resolution of approval to enact the recommendations in their entirety.

Rep. Ron Kind has been dedicated to finding ways to save taxpayer money ever since his time working for Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin investigating wasteful government spending programs for Sen. Proxmire’s Golden Fleece Awards. Rep. Kind has continued to publicly call out wasteful spending, and will continue to fight to lower the national debt by using taxpayer dollars more efficiently.

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