[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18664-18665]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            DEFENSE SPENDING

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, this country has a $9.7 trillion national 
debt. In addition, we obviously have enormous unmet infrastructure 
needs and social needs. Every American who drives on the road or goes 
over a bridge understands that we need to spend billions of dollars 
rebuilding our infrastructure. Forty-six million Americans have no 
health insurance. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty in the 
industrialized world. In other words, we as a nation have enormous 
needs, and it is incumbent upon the Congress to do everything we can to 
take a hard look at fraud, waste, and abuse in every agency of the U.S. 
Government, including the Defense Department.
  I know many of my colleagues come down here and take a hard look at 
this issue. They take a hard look at that issue, but for some reason or 
another, looking at the Defense Department seems to be off their radar 
screen, and I think that is wrong. I think that is especially wrong 
given the fact that the budget we are looking at right now for the 
Defense Department is over $500 billion, excluding the money we spent 
in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is more than half of the discretionary 
budget of our country. So it seems to me that with regard to any of the 
agencies out there, we should be very active in taking a hard look at 
the waste, fraud, and abuse that takes place within the Defense 
authorization bill.
  The amendment I am offering with Senators Feingold and Whitehouse is 
pretty simple and straightforward. Today, more than half of the spare 
parts in the Air Force warehouses--over $18 billion--are not needed. 
That is $18 billion in spare parts which are not needed. In fact, if 
you can believe it, the Air Force has on order $235 million in 
inventory already identified as ready for disposal. They are spending 
$235 million to bring inventory in which is going to go out because 
they do not need it. That may make sense to somebody, but it certainly 
does not make sense to me.

[[Page 18665]]

  The truth is that this type of wasteful practice has gone on year 
after year, resulting in an enormous waste of taxpayer money, and it 
must be ended. Our amendment does three things: No. 1, it requires the 
Secretary of Defense to develop a comprehensive plan for improving the 
inventory system. No. 2, it requires the certification to Congress that 
the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Defense Logistics Agency have reduced 
their secondary inventory. No. 3, it fences off $100 million in 
inventory purchases until the Secretary of Defense makes required 
certifications.
  Mr. President, I would remind the Members of the Senate of one of the 
most significant speeches ever given by a President of the United 
States, and that President was Dwight David Eisenhower, who, as all 
Americans should know, was a five-star general and the military 
commander of Europe during World War II. He was, in fact, one of the 
great heroes in the defeat of nazism. Eisenhower, who became President 
in 1952--though it is not widely known--was extremely vocal in taking 
on not only Democrats--he was a Republican--but Republicans as well in 
saying that every nickel we spent on excess and wasteful military 
spending--something which he knew something about as a former five-star 
general--was simply taking money away from the needs of the American 
people.
  A few days before he left office in 1961, President Eisenhower gave 
one of the most prophetic speeches ever made from the White House, and 
here is what Eisenhower said:

       In the councils of Government, we must guard against the 
     acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or 
     unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential 
     for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will 
     persist.

  This is what Eisenhower said before he left office in 1961. He was 
talking then about the military industrial complex. Well, let me tell 
you something. If he was worried about the military industrial complex 
and the influence they have in distorting national priorities in this 
country in 1961, I can only imagine what he would think about the power 
of the military industrial complex today.
  So, Mr. President, clearly we want to have a very strong defense, 
clearly we want to make sure our soldiers have all of the equipment 
they need, but we have to take a hard look at the Defense Department, 
as we do at every other agency of Government, and I would hope very 
much that the amendment Senators Feingold, Whitehouse, and I have 
offered will, in fact, be accepted.

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