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House-Passed NDAA Funds Waste, Fraud, Excess Spending

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by a 217-199 vote. The bill would bring total discretionary defense spending close to $900 billion for the coming fiscal year, while neglecting to tackle any of the known waste, fraud, and excess spending in our government’s largest department. Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, released the following statement:

“The Pentagon is paying for planes that can’t fly, helicopters that have to land after 30 minutes, and ships that barely float. 

“A functioning Congress would demand accountability, slash the Pentagon budget, and devote hundreds of billions in savings to priority human needs – from reducing child poverty to speeding the transition to clean energy, from providing child care to expanding and improving Medicare.

“Instead, a Congress indentured to the military-industrial complex rubberstamps a nearly $900 billion Pentagon budget, fast on its way to hitting $1 trillion.

“Preposterously, the Republican-controlled Rules Committee refused to permit a vote on amendments that would have enabled an actual debate about spending levels for a bill that authorizes half the country’s discretionary budget. 

“Republican insistence on outrageous, extraneous culture war provisions in the NDAA should not distract from the actual purpose of the NDAA – and the desperate imperative to curtail Pentagon spending.”