Mike Conaway: “I thank my good colleague for yielding. I rise in support of the rule, as well as the underlying bill, the National…”

“I thank my good colleague for yielding. I rise in support of the rule, as well as the underlying bill, the National Defense Authorization Act. One of the provisions in there is the addition of a defense audit advisory panel. It comes as no shock to anyone in this room that the Department of Defense is unauditable, or their financial statements are unauditable. There are Herculean efforts going on across the river at the Pentagon and throughout the entire system to try to correct this issue. There are millions and millions of dollars being spent to try to make this happen and try to get to a point, in fact, where they can. The current law requires that the Defense Department be auditable by the end of 2017 and that the fiscal 2018 books and records be audited and a report provided to Congress by 2018. There will be important decisions going on throughout that timeframe. We need a canary in the coal mine. We need an early warning system in this House that tracks that process, and this panel will do that. I was pleased that it was included in the underlying bill. It is important that Congress watch this process throughout.…”