Warren, Braun, Lee, King Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Reduce Wasteful Pentagon Spending, Repeal Unfunded Priorities List

Washington, DC – United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), along with Senators Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Mike Lee (R-Utah.) and Angus Stanley King Jr. (I-Maine.), also a member of SASC, and U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), introduced the Streamline Pentagon Spending Act, bipartisan and bicameral legislation to repeal statutory requirements to provide unfunded priorities lists, reduce wasteful reporting burdens, and enhance civilian oversight over the budgetary process…

For decades the military services have submitted wish lists, referred to as “unfunded priorities lists,” to Congress on top of their annual budget submissions. Unlike agencies’ annual budget submissions,  these wish lists do not include information about the long term costs of these investments over the future year’s defense plan (FYDP). As a consequence, these lists can distort the force and undermine the overall budget process. 

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates made curtailing these lists a centerpiece of his broader Department of Defense reform efforts, which led to and shrinking the size of these lists by nearly 90 percent. The fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act created a statutory requirement for the chiefs of staff of the military services to provide these lists annually. Subsequent defense bills have expanded this requirement to other defense agencies and components. 

Recently this practice has been abused by placing programs that belong in the base budget in the unfunded priorities list. For example, the Government Accountability Office’s review of the impact of the Navy’s unfunded priorities lists impact on multiyear procurement found, “the Navy was not required to explain this decision to Congress, leading to the concerns that it was engaging in budgetary maneuvers that impede congressional oversight and decision-making.” This year the Army included needed construction and upgrades for military housing in the unfunded priorities lists in a similar form of gamesmanship. 

The Streamline Pentagon Budgeting Act specifically would: 

The Streamline Pentagon Budgeting Act would repeal statutory requirements to provide unfunded priorities lists, reduce wasteful reporting burdens, and enhance civilian oversight over the budgetary process. Specifically, the legislation:

1. Repeals the requirement for the top military officers to provide unfunded priorities lists.
2. Repeals the requirement for combatant commanders to provide unfunded priorities lists.
3. Repeals the requirement for the Missile Defense Agency to provide unfunded priorities lists…

The legislation is endorsed by National Taxpayers Union, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Public Citizen, FreedomWorks, R Street, the Project On Government Oversight, and Taxpayers for Common Sense.