[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 186 (Monday, December 16, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S7053]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   National Defense Authorization Act

  Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, the time is long overdue for Congress 
to get its priorities right.
  And we can begin moving in that direction by rejecting and voting no 
on a $900 billion defense bill which is full of waste and fraud and 
cost overruns.
  I find it amusing that anytime we come to the floor and Members point 
out that we have a housing crisis, that we have some 600 million 
Americans who are homeless, that we have millions and millions of 
people in this country spending 40, 50, 60 percent of their limited 
incomes on housing, and that we need to invest in low-income and 
affordable housing, what I hear is we don't have the money. We don't 
have the money to build affordable housing.
  When we have 85 million Americans who are uninsured or underinsured--
60,000 die each year because they don't get to a doctor on time--well, 
we don't have the money to invest in primary healthcare. When all over 
this country, working parents are searching desperately to find quality 
and affordable childcare, we don't have the money to invest in 
childcare. Madam President, 25 percent of senior citizens in this 
country are trying to survive on $15,000 a year or less. I don't know 
anybody in America who could survive on $15,000 or less.
  But when we talk about increasing Social Security benefits, well, we 
just can't afford to do that. We just can't afford to expand Medicare 
to cover dental, hearing, or vision.
  We just cannot afford to make higher education in America affordable. 
That is what I hear every single day. When there is an effort to 
improve life for the working class in this country, I hear no, no, no, 
we can't afford it. But when it comes to the military industrial 
complex and their needs, what we hear is yes, yes, yes, with almost no 
debate.
  There is nobody who has studied the Pentagon who does not believe 
there is massive waste and fraud and cost overruns in that industry. 
Defense contractors routinely overcharge the Pentagon by 40 percent, 
and just in October, a few months ago, RTX, formerly Raytheon, was 
fined $950 million for inflating bills to the Department of Defense. 
They lied about labor costs and about material costs, and they were 
busy paying bribes to secure foreign business. But it is not just 
Raytheon.
  In June, Lockheed Martin was fined $70 million for overcharging the 
Navy for aircraft parts, the latest in a long line of similar abuses. 
Fraud is rampant within the military industrial complex.
  The F-35, the most expensive weapons system in history, has run up 
hundreds of billions of dollars in cost overruns. GAO now estimates it 
will cost more than $2 trillion to develop, maintain, and operate that 
fighter jet through its lifetime.
  The simple point that I am making is that when it comes to the needs 
of the military industrial complex and their lobbyists, and that 
industry which makes millions in campaign contributions, we give them 
what they want, despite the overwhelming evidence of waste and fraud 
and the fact that they have not been able to go through an independent 
audit for the last 7 years.
  They can't account, literally, for trillions of dollars in property 
and stuff that they own. They have no idea where the money is going, 
but we give them more and more money.
  So my request is simple. I think this week we are going to be voting 
on a $900 billion defense budget. I think it is time to tell the 
military industrial complex that they cannot get everything they want. 
It is time to pay attention to the needs of working families.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from Nebraska.

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