Tom Harkin: “I know the Senators and their staffs, on both sides, have worked on this matter going back some years. I appreciate…”

“I know the Senators and their staffs, on both sides, have worked on this matter going back some years. I appreciate that. This seems like that whack-a-mole type thing; you keep hitting it and something else pops up. From our side, the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee side, I have been addressing this since 1995. GAO even said here: Since 1995, we have reported on imbalances in DOD's inventory, and our current work shows that these imbalances continue to exist. I know the chairman and ranking member have a lot on their plate. This is a big bill. There is a lot you have to pay attention to. But somehow we just have to get our hands on this. In response to what Senator Levin had said, we found in one of our reports--I am sure the chairman is very familiar with it--where we had at one point 100 years or more of inventory of some items. Of course they are going to be long obsolete before that hundred years is out. Some of that has been taken care of. I compliment the chairman and ranking member, now and in the past, for attending to that, because a lot of that has been reduced. But we still have one problem here--well, one among others--of the secondary inventory and the fact they keep buying, even though they themselves say they do not need it.”