The top priority of Congress is making sure our government is funded by Sept. 30. The House and Senate Armed Services committees have pushed the Pentagon’s budget $27.2 billion beyond the president’s agreed spending caps of $895 billion for the budget, drawing on the Unfunded Priorities Lists to justify these hikes. These Unfunded Priorities Lists allow Pentagon officials to circumvent the president and defense secretary’s role by submitting their own budgets without top-level vetting by Defense Department leadership.
Even Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Comptroller Michael McCord would like to see these mandated annual “wish lists” repealed. If an item is not included in the $895 billion budget already, it shouldn’t be a priority.
The Unfunded Priorities Lists divert resources away from critical social programs and community needs such as health care, education, environmental stability and infrastructure. The average taxpayer is subsidizing Pentagon contractors at $1,748 annually, according to the National Priorities Project. In a time when families are financially pressed, this is unacceptable.
I appeal to Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez to co-sponsor H.R. 4740 and to Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to support the reintroduction of the Streamline Pentagon Budgeting Act to increase accountability and enhance civilian oversight over the budgetary process.
