Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the Department of Defense is the only agency that can't get a clean audit. Sometime around 1990, there was an audit law passed directing Departments to get to a point where they could get a clean audit. DOD is still the only one that hasn't. Sometime around 2010, I believe, we laid down a requirement that the clean audit date ought to be met by 2017. Well, that wasn't met. So, for decades, DOD has been saying that they are almost there. Now they say it will be at least another 5 years before a clean opinion can be reached. One reason they haven't been able to do that is the outdated mess of hundreds of financial management systems. Yet the Department of Defense still wants to spend almost $200 million on an annual audit. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment to pause the audit effort that is doomed to fail anyway and, instead, invest that $200 million in updating the Department of Defense financial management system because, until they get the financial management systems right, DOD will never be capable of having a clean audit. I yield the floor. ____________________”