On the recordJune 16, 2016
I thank the gentleman from Colorado for his important and consistent work to bring financial sense to the Pentagon. I rise to urge my colleagues to support the Polis-Lee amendment. This amendment will help rein in unnecessary and bloated Pentagon spending while protecting the pay or health benefit account of our brave servicemembers and their families. Over the last 15 years, Pentagon spending has ballooned by 50 percent in real terms, and we still haven't even been able to audit the Pentagon. You talk about waste, fraud, and abuse? My goodness. One percent, this is a pittance in terms of what we need to do, but we have got to start somewhere. Pentagon spending now consumes more than half of the Federal discretionary budget that we oversee. It is just outrageous. We need a faster, smarter, more modern military, not bloated spending that drives up our national debt. Many of you may remember the reports of cash in suitcases being passed around by Karzai in Afghanistan. American tax dollars, cash, where did that money go? Come on, we could put that into health care for our troops. Recently, The New York Times made this case in their editorial, ``A Better, Not Fatter, Defense Budget.'' I include the New York Times editorial, ``A Better, Not Fatter, Defense Budget,'' in the Record.…
