"We Don't Know Where That 2.3 TRILLION Dollars Went!" Rep DeFazio Calls To Audit The Pentagon

[FLAprogressive]

Run time: 06:59 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KxrQIrbUpY   Posted on YouTube: July 08, 2011 By YouTube Member: MOXNEWSd0tCOM Views on YouTube: 6562   Posted on DU: July 10, 2011 By DU Member: FLAprogressive Views on DU: 8096

 

[Mr Noodlebrain]

1. Let me at that accounting! I will provide audit trails. It is not hard to follow the money.

whoever took out the cash, if cash was used is accountable for
tracking it.  Checks and other instruments are easy to get
documents for, but cash requires the recipient to document
with receipts.  Send them to jail if they can't trace it.

[aquart]

5. I would be so happy to do that. Welcome to DU.

[Quantess]

15. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[Enthusiast]

21. You are no noodlebrain.

Welcome to DU.

[glinda]

29. Welcome to DU and you are right.

[DallasNE]

38. The Government Has The Same Problem As Corporate America

The department being audited hires the auditors. The end result will always be Arthur Andersen type of auditing. The independent auditors have completely lost their independence. There is no longer any transparency thanks to deregulating the audit controls. And the problem probably goes back as far as the Reagan administration. You get what you pay for.

[ooglymoogly]

2. We have become repulsively sick. kr nt

[toddwv]

3. Boggles the mind, doesn't it?

The military-industrial complex will NEVER let those books be cracked open.

[zbdent]

39. any such endeavor would be called treasonous by the "liberally-biased media"

and painted as "the liberals hate the military" ...

[FourScore]

4. I would advise Rep. DeFazio not to get on any small planes. n/t

[Sherman A1]

13. Agreed

[Enthusiast]

22. I was thinking the same...........nt

[russspeakeasy]

28. Planes of any size...I don't trust the crooks...A couple hundred

extra lives mean very little to them. Hell, we kill that many every day...somewhere.

[Politicalboi]

6. Is that the missing

2.3 Trillion that Rumsfailed announced on 09/10/01? Bush/Cheney stole it. Maybe they can ask the Pentagon why they let 40 minutes go by after the second plane hit the towers, and the plane hitting the Pentagon. Such a weak organization, maybe we shouldn't fund the Pentagon at all.

[spooked911]

16. also, interesting how the plane that hit the Pentagon took out the Navy accounting office

part of the whole point of the operation.

http://911research.wtc7.net/sept11/victims/pentagonkilled.html#ref3

[defendandprotect]

34. +1 --

And weren't the SEC records -- Enron and all the other criminals -

in Building #7?

[spooked911]

44. that too

LOTS of records destroyed on 9/11... along with our democracy

[Enthusiast]

23. Good point.....nt

[slipslidingaway]

7. Thanks and link ...

http://www.defazio.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=717:house-passes-defazio-amendment-to-audit-the-pentagon-&catid=63:2011-news

"... “The Pentagon has spent more than $10 trillion since 1990 and will spend over $4 trillion over the next four years without ever passing an audit,” said DeFazio. “As Congress debates substantial cuts to programs that help middle class families, we need a clear picture that allows us to target wasteful and duplicative spending. The Pentagon needs to be audited just like every other federal agency in order to achieve significant budget savings.”

Federal law requires all federal agencies to produce auditable financial statements on a yearly basis. However, the Pentagon has never passed an audit and over the last 30 years the Department of Defense Inspector General and the General Accounting Office (GAO) have documented serious errors in the Pentagon’s financial record keeping. For example, a March 2000 Inspector General report found that nearly one third of the accounting entries in the Pentagon’s $7.6 billion budget were untraceable. In FY 2010, nearly half of the contracts awards in the Pentagon’s $366 billion were not fully completed.

“There is no reason that the largest and most expensive agency in the federal government should hide its financial books from scrutiny,” said DeFazio. “We need to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used efficiently and effectively and this amendment would help achieve that goal.”

The Pentagon was given an exemption to federal law in 2005, allowing it to avoid completing audits on a yearly basis. The exemption was contained in Section 376 of the Fiscal Year 2006 National Defense Authorization Act. DeFazio’s amendment has the effect of repealing the exemption..."

[Poll_Blind]

8. DeFazio is my Rep. and this flaming liberal is very pleased with his service.

He is the real deal.

The REAL deal.

As in he doesn't get into office and decide he wants to play a goddamned Republican.

PB

[chill_wind]

10. I've always liked him a lot. You have a right to be pleased and proud, PB

You guys have chosen well.

[Snotcicles]

18. He has been one of the good ones all along. nt

[classof56]

36. Lucky you to have Peter as your rep.

I'm stuck with Greg Walden, but as an Oregonian and a US citizen, I'm very proud of Peter and what he does for all of us.

[chill_wind]

9. An audit targeted for a date by 2017?

And the Pentagon is saying they can't get it together to meet that date without....MORE MONEY.
Unbelievable. All of it.

[Enthusiast]

24. "Unbelievable. All of it."

It certainly to fuck is. Excuse my language.

[SparkyOR]

11. He's my Congressman and I love him!

Just gave him $100 at a local fundraiser at Ninkasi microbrewery, and I'm not too sure if I'll pitch in much to get Obama back in, unless I see some BACKBONE! He's got real integrity, and at times I've doubted his positions, but looking back, I'd have a hard time saying he was ever wrong! GO PETER! He's been interviewed a few times on Thom Hartmann.

[FourScore]

30. Lucky you! And welcome to DU SparkyOR!

:hi:

[Kall]

12. Leaving aside the DoD itself for the moment and the bloody Republicans...

... I like Pete DeFazio, he's terrific. But this is a perfect encapsulation of the problem, and what happens without any leadership from the top (read: White House), and not lighting a fire under peoples' asses, when coming into 2009 they had an entire country begging them to.

Setting a non-mandated target date of 2017 to maybe require the DoD to be able to do an audit, back in 2009?

Not exactly kicking ass and taking names to root out the problems, were we?

I don't know what's sorrier - the problems that are right there and the whole country knows about, or the absolutely piss-poor, half-assed efforts to address them by the people in charge. You can throw that stupid health care bill that skated by the whole problem of for-profit health care *entirely* along with that, and a laundry list of other legislation that frankly everyone who reads this knows about.

A non-mandated target of 2017 to perhaps be able to do an audit. Christ on a crouton. What did they think would be the result, when that was the extent of their effort? You were always going to get a dog-ate-my-homework response to it. The Fierce Urgency of Possibly 2017 is apparently going to be the next campaign slogan.

[JJW]

14. Smart bombs and idiot accountants

what a racket.

[bulloney]

17. $2.3 trillion unaccounted for? Yet we continue giving the military a blank check

and attack social safety net programs.

[dotymed]

32. 2 trillion is the amount Boner now wants to cut

from social programs. That way Obama (we) can make all of the sacrifices and The tax on the wealthy is not re-instated. Talking about chutzpa.

It's not about raising taxes. It is about allowing the tax cuts on the wealthy to expire.

[mother earth]

19. K & R, we're being gutted to super fund war and more war

and again, zero accountability is expected, nor is it ever required.

[Enthusiast]

20. But we have to cut social security and medicare.

Every dime should be accounted for and there should be real consequences to pentagon fraud and abuse. Will it happen? Just like it did with the too big to fail banks and their board rooms overstuffed with criminals.

[sulphurdunn]

25. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid

are audited and reviewed and long term spending projections are made with a vengeance. This scrutiny is now being used to rationalize cuts to these programs. The American people spend about the same amount of money on these programs as they do on the Pentagon. Try to imagine the sound and fury that would emanate from Washington if any of the big three social programs couldn't account for $2.3 trillion. :smoke:

[AllTooEasy]

26. Two wars that were unpaid for

[99th_Monkey]

27. Hey, that's MY congress critter! Color me proud. Go Peter!! ~nt

[radhika]

31. You can trace indirectly too

I'm sure the Pentagon/CIA know how to pass out cash without receipts. Receipts are great, and have a name, but can't assume anything beyond that. It's already been documented how suitcases of cash left US planes and disappeared - to be followed by suitcases of ?? that flew to Dubai.

But indirectly --- would be nice to track paths of prosperity - up grades of lifestyle in certain areas or provinces. Rises in deposits in financial entities, sort of like the banks with drug money, 'cept this is blood money, thug money. And I'm sure on the grassroots, folks around the world totally know what's coming in and probably welcome it.

[defendandprotect]

33. Want to balance the budget -- ? $2.3 TRILLION -- !!!

[davidwparker]

35. Find out where the 2.3 trillion went, remove Obama's

tax breaks for the wealth 2%, and that should take care of the 4 trillion in cuts which Obama and his (R) friends are discussing today.

Simple.

[AverageJoe90]

37. Nice one, Mr. DeFazio!

Unfortunately, this isn't likely to go anywhere; not only would it help grind the U.S. war machine to a halt, but stopping the audit would also help the powers that be keep their, quite frankly, anti-Semitic, 'Israel masterminded 9/11 for Zionism' B.S. alive & well, lest the real culprits be fully exposed.

[Amonester]

40. Just who the eff said No???

I think just one absolute moron said no... and I think that mofo should be investigated!

[Overseas]

41. Audit the Pentagon? Yes, Please. It is a point of pride. As we lose our community clinics and

after school programs, we need to be able to point to something and say-- Yeah, it was worth every trillion!

We the people, asked to sacrifice time and again, need to know.

We still don't have national health insurance. We dread getting sick and with all the economic turmoil since the Bush Crash that's been easy to do.

We're trying to choose whether to slice into community clinics, after school programs, low income heating assistance, food inspection, environmental protection, and exciting public works projects like high speed rail and wind turbines and conservation engineering.

So we look forward to an honest review of the ways in which we are spending our tax dollars.

We the people have always included domestic tranquility in our national security plan. That comes with a brilliant government doing its best to rebuild our country with jobs, jobs, jobs and let us help our country get ready for the increasing climate destabilization ahead.

I hope we can work together toward a broader vision of our national security and defense. More strategic longer term survival among a community of nations.

I'd love to see an audit. Is there nothing we could cut in order to retain low income heating assistance?

[Qutzupalotl]

42. I asked him about this in a town hall in 2003.

I had just seen Chuck Spinney's appearance on Bill Moyers' NOW, where Spinney called for a pentagon audit. At the time, DeFazio told me he didn't believe the pentagon could be audited, or whether all this free money we'd get by auditing it would really materialize. Glad to see he's coming around!

[flamingdem]

43. The US govt could pay off the debt if with that dough! nt

[Kaleko]

45. K & R