The Republican Leadership has pledged to cut Government spending, but when discussing this pledge, they uniformly exclude Defense spending. This is usually tied to the standard meme that we cannot morally cut defense spending while our brave men and women are fighting overseas. Thanks to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a recent audit of defense contracting and fraud reveals a troubling truth, namely that the defense budget is where they bury the bodies.
http://sanders.senate.gov/...
Amanda Terkel reports the details of an audit mandated in last years defense appropriations bill in today's Huffington Post. Thanks to the Senate's most progressive Senator, the depth of fraud and abuse stuffing the pentagon budget demands popular outrage. Senator Sanders staff summarized the findings of the report as follows:
"- Over the three year period from 2007 to 2009, 30 DOD contractors were convicted of criminal fraud. Despite these criminal convictions, these contractors were awarded $682,141,708 in contracts during the same three year period.
- Over the three year period from 2007 to 2009, 91 DOD contractors incurred fraud judgments of more than $1 million, and 120 DOD contractors settled charges of fraud for over $1 million. Nonetheless, these same contractors were awarded $280,016,281,524 in contracts during the same three year period.
- Over the three year period from 2007 to 2009, 43 DOD contractors were suspended from contracting with DOD because of fraud-related activities. During that period, these contractors were awarded $992,479,647 in contracts. They were even awarded $3,872,614 during the period when they should have been suspended.
- Over the three year period from 2007 to 2009, 164 DOD contractors were debarred from contracting with DOD because of fraud-related activities. During that period, these contractors were awarded $3,957,864,959 in contracts. They were even awarded $15,276,569 after they were debarred.
- This leaves us with a shocking takeaway: Over the three year period from 2007 to 2009, hundreds of contractors were found to have committed fraud in connection with a DOD contract. This apparently did not affect DOD’s contracting behavior, however. During that same three year period, DOD awarded $285 BILLION in contracts to the same companies!"
Total defense related spending for 2011 is 928.5 Billion dollars. Excluding pension costs and foreign military aid, the military portion of the FY 2011 defense department budget is 747.9 Billion Dollars. So, as much as a third of defense spending is being funneled to companies with a demonstrable track record of fraudulent or outright criminal behavior.
Typical fraud would likely include billing for goods or services that were not delivered, delivering goods or services that fail to meet contract requirements, acts that the typical person would recognize as "waste, fraud, and abuse." So why the hands off approach by the Republicans and a great many Democrats in Congress?
Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, and Boeing have entwined themselves in the economies of almost every congressional district, and they spread a lot of Cheddar around the Capital. In addition, all of them and many more have been busted, but end up getting off with fines that look like pocket change in comparison to the massive contracts they win. Meanwhile, I cannot help but conclude that fraud is a big reason that the military budget has doubled since 2001. (remember, the costs of the wars have always been separate budget line items)
We should not even talk about cuts in education, health care, unemployment or legitimate regulatory activities so long as the Pentagon persists in this behavior. All of us should challenge congressional representatives who vow to protect defense spending at the cost of all else.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...