Congressman Mark DeSaulnier Comments on Passage of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2019

Washington, DC – Today, Congressman DeSaulnier (CA-11) released the following statement in response to the final passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019 (H.R. 5515), which passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 359-to-54.

"The NDAA would give an additional $717 billion to the Department of Defense. For context, that is almost four times the entire budget for the State of California. Instead of giving funding unchecked to the Pentagon, where $125 billion in bureaucratic waste has already been identified, we should be spending on only the essentials while demanding a completed audit. I have not voted in favor of any of the annual bills to authorize defense spending and will continue to oppose the measure until the DoD has completed a full audit and I am confident taxpayers' hard earned money is spent in an open, transparent, and efficient manner that also ensures our troops' safety."

Last year, Congressman DeSaulnier authored the Department of Defense Waste Reduction Act (H.R. 2367) to address reckless spending at the Department of Defense (DoD) and prevent it from receiving any additional funding until wasteful spending practices within the Department are addressed.

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