A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate on May 19 would require the Department of Defense (DoD) to pass a full independent audit at the start of fiscal 2022, and if every military branch and party of the DoD fails to return results own audit, it would return one percent of its budget to the treasury.

the Audit the Pentagon Law of 2021, presented by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, would help the DoD which “still can’t run into billions of dollars of transactions and did not fail to pass a clean audit, ”said the senators in a declaration.

“The Pentagon and the military industrial complex have been plagued by a tremendous amount of waste, fraud and financial mismanagement for decades. This is absolutely unacceptable, ”said Senator Sanders. “If we are serious about spending taxpayer dollars wisely and efficiently, we need to end the absurdity of the Pentagon being the only agency in the federal government that has not passed an independent audit.”

Different versions of this bill have appeared over the years, but they have not made it very far in the legislative process. Senator Joe Manchin, DW.V., introduced the Audit of the 2015 Pentagon Law, which would similarly require the DoD to pass an audit, but would have offered different penalties for not succeeding, such as prohibiting the DoD from purchasing certain weapons, weapon systems, or platforms if it hadn’t. not got an FY17 audit. The bill did not go to committee.

the Audit the Pentagon Law of 2017, presented to the House by Representative Barbara Lee, D-Calif., is following the new 2021 legislation more closely by slashing the DoD’s budget by half a percent if the department’s financial statement for the previous fiscal year didn’t has not received a qualified or unqualified independent audit. This bill was referred to the House Armed Services Committee, but no further.

“While providing common defense is one of the most important tasks of the federal government, it should be done in a way that uses our limited resources responsibly,” said Senator Lee. “By requiring the DOD to obtain an unqualified audit opinion from FY 22, this bill will ensure the necessary transparency and accountability in its use of taxpayer dollars.”