Withhold Funding Until Pentagon Passes Financial Audit

The Pentagon has failed its annual financial audit for the eighth consecutive year, making it the only one of the government's 24 major federal agencies that has never passed an audit since Congress mandated annual reviews in 2018. This pattern of failure represents an unacceptable use of taxpayer dollars and demands immediate congressional action. The Department of Defense Agency Financial Report for fiscal year 2025 identified 26 material weaknesses and two significant deficiencies in financial reporting. One glaring example involves the Joint Strike Fighter Program, where auditors found the Pentagon could not provide accurate data to verify the existence, completeness, or value of its Global Spares Pool assets. The department failed to properly account for assets and property in this program, resulting in material misstatements on Agency-Wide Financial Statements. When an agency manages $4.65 trillion in assets and $4.7 trillion in liabilities across all 50 states and more than 40 countries, this level of financial opacity is inexcusable. While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and chief financial officer Jules Hurst have stated the department aims to achieve an unmodified audit opinion by 2028, we have heard similar promises before. Eight consecutive failures demonstrate that voluntary compliance is insufficient. The Pentagon has had since 2018 to get its financial house in order, and the problem has only persisted. I urge you to support legislation that ties Pentagon funding increases to audit compliance. Congress should withhold a percentage of discretionary defense spending until the department passes a clean audit. Every other major federal agency has managed to meet this basic standard of financial accountability. The Defense Department should be held to the same requirement. Taxpayers deserve to know their money is being tracked, accounted for, and spent as intended. Without financial transparency, we cannot ensure effective national defense or responsible stewardship of public funds.