Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) ripped the Department of Defense’s finances for failing its fifth consecutive audit and inability to account for 61% of its $3.5 trillion in assets.

“The most ravenous Leviathan of our government that devours the people’s wealth is the Department of Defense,” Higgins said in an impassioned speech during a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing on the DOD’s failed audit, financial management practices.

  • SUPERcrazy3530@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    That’s a loaded headline. It makes it sound like all of the missing funds went to Zelensky but that’s just a guys opinion.

    • Specific_Skunk@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      As someone who’s witnessed the US Military’s “use or lose” budget in action, I’d put $100 on a lot of it being jammed in a closet, sitting at the bottom of an ocean, or conveniently lost to fire in a desert somewhere.

    • Jay@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Especially considering it’s been a DoD problem for many, many years now. The audits they talk about in the article date back to as far as 2017… this isn’t a new issue.

      • PickTheStick@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Sheesh, one of the conspiracies about 9/11 was that the location of the pentagon hit was where they had just failed an audit. It’s a gigantic pit we’ve been ‘losing’ money in for decades, if not a full century.

    • ATQ@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      The state of the DoDs finances is a legitimate concern, but OP and the ‘Pub the article cites are just bad faith trolling.

      The truth is that in 1990, Congress passed a law directing all federal agencies to produce regular, audited financial statements. More than thirty years later, the Department of Defense is the only agency that has never passed a single audit. That’s under both Dem and Pub administrations.

      The shot at Zelensky and the current geopolitical situation is just silly, stupid, and frankly the kind of thing a tankie would say 🙄

    • AngrilyEatingMuffins@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      It’s probably some sort of psy op to get liberals and lefties on board with giving these guys more money even though they clearly should not get it.

      Based on this thread it seems like it worked

    • Raphael@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      but that’s just a guys opinion.

      About all we can have since the funds are unaccounted for.

      • dtc@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Do you think the pentagon has EVER passed an audit?

        Do you think a government paying for black projects would discuss these black projects with an accountant just to pass an audit?

        • AngrilyEatingMuffins@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          You think two thirds of the military’s assets is invested in their handful of projects that random congressional reps don’t get to know about?

          come ON

          • blightbow@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            What feedback do you have on the first sentence, which is not hyperbole? Honestly curious. You appear to have very strong opinions on this topic, but you aren’t replying to any of the comments pointing out 33 years worth of failed audits.

            Is this most recent one particularly suspect compared to audits that have come before it, and more sketchy than ones that have failed during administrations run by the other party?

            • AngrilyEatingMuffins@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              Sorry you’re asking ME for proof that 61% of the military’s budget isn’t secret from congress?

              Dude, if that was even close to possibly true we would have a MUCH larger issue

              Yeah, the pentagon only fails budgets because they don’t fucking know what they’re doing with the money. They sent two billion in cash to Iraq and lost all of it, but okay, none of this is because of their 33 years of recorded incompetence!

              Some fucking mental gymnastics there bro

              • blightbow@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                No, was asking you for your thoughts on this specific sentence, on its own:

                Do you think the pentagon has EVER passed an audit?

                Which you did eventually stumble into, but not before engaging in some mental gymnastics for the sake of accusing me of mental gymnastics. Thanks, sort of?

                • AngrilyEatingMuffins@kbin.social
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                  1 year ago

                  Honestly, are you a bot because holy shit do you not make any sense

                  Occam’s razor is that the pentagon is bad at accounting for their assets, not that they’re completely circumventing congressional oversight of the military unconstitutionally, which you seem to think is the case, and that it’s good, somehow.

                  Imagine licking the boot so bad that you twist two trillion dollars going up in smoke into a win

      • girlfreddy@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Maybe if Congress stopped automatically green-lighting every military expenditure request without question, instead of demanding concise monthy reports on service/equipment purchases AND verified location, the US taxpayer could feel confident that their leadership actually gives a shit about them.

      • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        You could certainly form a better opinion based on an overall understanding of military practices, rather than one pulled out of an ass.

        • Raphael@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          Are you saying that representative pulled it out of his ass that America is sending hundreds of billions of taxpayer money to Ukraine?

          • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            I’m saying the representative pulled out of his ass an implication that $2 trillion worth of missing assets all went to Ukraine. The stuff that went to Ukraine almost certainly is accounted for.

    • thisisawayoflife@lemmynsfw.com
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      1 year ago

      Hasn’t it been this way since, well, forever? I seem to recall these headlines in the 90s and 00s too, but somehow the defense budget grows every year…

  • style99@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Wait. Since when are Republicans so anti-military and pro-Russian oppression? Saint Reagan is weeping over this cruel betrayal.

  • Pratai@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Hey look, another op-ed positioned as news! Let’s watch everyone lose their minds!