The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.

The biggest D.C. scandal is not the following: Trump’s firing and/or forcing retirement of 300,000 critical federal workers; the no-bid bungled $16.4 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool; Trump’s attempt to add his name to the Kennedy Center; the Trump “Independence Arch” near Arlington Cemetery; tearing down part of the White House to build a $600 million ballroom or corrupt enrichment of Trump, his family and cronies.

The biggest D.C. scandal is Trump’s proposed military budget of $1.5 trillion. “If enacted, that amount would set military spending at its highest level in modern history (and) amount to a roughly 40 percent increase …” (NYT). Moreover, the military is building a new nuclear strike force of submarines, land-based missiles with thermonuclear warheads and a fleet of bombers at a cost of $1.7 trillion over 30 years. Trump even wants to resume nuclear testing. Armageddon and genocide beckon.

All of this military spending means massive corruption and profiteering by defense contractors. During WWII the Truman Senate Committee saved $ billions, e.g., by exposing defective airplane designs and engines as well as badly made steel. The Truman Committee helped put a lid on fraud, profiteering and waste. Not much has changed except that there are fewer watchdogs after Trump improperly fired them. “As a matter of practice, military contractors have overcharged the Pentagon for years – at the expense of both taxpayers and the military” (Stimson Center).

In October, 2024 the Justice Department announced a $950 million settlement with Raytheon to resolve “a major government fraud scheme involving defective pricing on certain government contracts and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act …”, involving the sale of Patriot missile systems and operating-maintaining a radar system. “Raytheon also admitted that by misrepresenting its costs during contract negotiations it overcharged the United States on these contracts and received profits in excess of the negotiated profit rates” (Justice Department).

Meanwhile, “Dell wins Pentagon contract ($9.7 billion) after Trump acquires stock” (Washington Post). This is a blatant, corrupt conflict of interest. Then there’s Lockheed Martin’s contributing to Trump’s ballroom. Note: in 2024, Lockheed Martin “agreed to $70 million settlement with the Navy for … inflating prices on spare parts” (Stimson Center). What does Lockheed Martin want from Trump and the Pentagon?

What to do? Learn from Wisconsin Democratic Senator Bill Proxmire, champion of exposing government fraud, waste and excess profits for defense contractors. Proxmire fought the demise of the federal Renegotiation Board, “set up in 1951 to renegotiate defense and space contracts whose profits were deemed excessive …” (Congressional Quarterly). Robert Kuttner, American Prospect, said: “Proxmire was not in anyone’s pocket. … For more than a decade, he helped keep alive … the Renegotiation Board, which required audits … . If profits turned out to be excessive, the Treasury got a refund. Taxpayers saved tens of billions.” Moreover, Proxmire led the Senate to ratify the UN Convention outlawing genocide. Nuclear rearmament and testing could ultimately lead to the extermination of the human race.

We need more Bill Proxmires.

Kaplan wrote a guest column from Washington, D.C., for the Wisconsin State Journal from 1995 – 2009.