Congress Demands Pentagon Cut Waste

[laughingliberal]

WASHINGTON — The House went after Pentagon waste Wednesday, saying improvements in how the Defense Department buys equipment and services can save taxpayers billions of dollars every year.

In legislation passed 417-3, lawmakers demanded that the federal government's biggest buyer do a better job in ensuring that it pays proper prices and gets what it pays for.

"For many years, we've witnessed waste in the Department of Defense's acquisition system spiral out of control, placing a heavy burden on both American taxpayers and on our men and women in uniform," said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo.

Many of the provisions outlined in the bill are basically requirements for better business practices. But with the Pentagon owning 86 percent of government assets estimated at $4.6 trillion and spending about 50 percent of its procurement dollars on service contracts, those add up. Sponsors of the bill said efficiencies and the elimination of waste, fraud and abuse could save taxpayers up to $135 billion over five years.

The legislation is a follow-up to a measure enacted into law last year to stop massive overruns in the Pentagon's weapons acquisition system. Weapons account for about 29 percent of spending; Wednesday's bill, which Skelton said deals with everything from paper clips to boots to food, represents the rest, about $1 billion in spending every day.

More at link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/28/congress-demands-pentagon_0_n_555955.html

This is a step in the correct direction.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. HA!

:rofl:

[ShortnFiery]

2. LOL, this is only talking smack to pacify us proles. How about we cut 50% of the Pentagon's budget?

While ending these two SENSELESS occupations?

Now that would be positive CHANGE that would make AMERICANS safer, both at home and abroad. :thumbsup:

[ixion]

3. Exactly. That is something I would support. In fact,

I'd say cut it by 75% and tell them to buck up and live with it.

[ShortnFiery]

5. Yes, the big beastie Northrup Grumman is coming to our area here

in Northern Virginia. You have no idea how many parasitic military contractors satellite around D.C. just to be closer to the Big Government Defense teat. They'd squeal like stuck pigs if EITHER the Congress or the Executive Branch would suggest MOST ANY cuts to defense spending.

But no worries, the REAL OWNERS of this Nation will not give either permission to cut our God Almighty MIC. Nope, not one red cent will be denied our glorious warmongers in the MIC while there's a shred of whipped-up "amorphous evil ones" to be rooted out and/or bombed back to the Stone Age. :crazy: :nuke: :crazy:

http://yorick.infinitejest.org:81/1/img/card-1984_instruction_manual.jpg http://yorick.infinitejest.org:81/1/img/card-us_foreign_policy.jpg

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Kinda like telling Donald Trump to conserve toilet paper.

[swilton]

6. What else is new?

Every administration campaigns on cutting waste, fraud and abuse -
Every administration coming into office starts out by getting its cabinets to define ways to cut waste -

I challenge anyone to name an administration that has said it will not cut waste!

[BeFree]

8. well

The only administrations that DID cut waste, fraud and abuse have been Democratic Administrations. So your point is.....?

[AnArmyVeteran]

7. OH NO! We will all be killed!

Any time there are any cuts in the military when a democrat is in the White House there are protests saying how weak democrats are on defense. It doesn't matter that almost the entire defense industry is a welfare state funneling money out of taxpayer's pockets to build weapons we don't need, would never use and the Pentagon didn't want in the first place. We need to gut the military spending. A goal of reducing its size by 50% would be a rational, fiscally responsible thing to do. We have military bases all over the world. Why? Let other countries defend themselves for a change. And if the US didn't meddle in other countries' business all the time we wouldn't have the constant conflicts popping up all around the world.

[Echo In Light]

9. .