VPR News: Probe requested by Sanders finds $7 billion in unnecessary Navy spending

Probe requested by Sanders finds $7 billion in unnecessary Navy spending

Wednesday, 12/17/08

Bob Kinzel - Montpelier, VT

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(Host intro) A new congressional investigation, requested by Senator Bernie Sanders, shows that the U.S. Navy has wasted more than $7 billion on unneeded spare parts.

Sanders says he believes Congress needs to go after a lot more wasteful spending at the Pentagon.

VPR's Bob Kinzel reports

(Kinzel) Sanders, who's a member of the Senate Budget Committee, asked the General Accounting Office to investigate the purchasing practices of the U.S. Navy.

The study found that the Navy has an inventory of more than $7 billion of unneeded spare parts in warehouses all across the country.

The report also found that it costs $18 million a year to store these parts.

Sanders thinks the investigation highlights a small part of a much larger problem:

(Sanders) ``This is just the top of the iceberg. But to say that the Navy itself today has $7.5 billion of spare parts, which they just don't need and are not going to use, is clearly an outrage and I intend to address that. We intend to look at the Air Force. We intend to look at the Army, as well. And I think you're going to find the same problems existing in each of these branches."

(Kinzel) Sanders says the issue of wasteful military spending has existed for years and he thinks the time has come to address it:

(Sanders) ``What the Navy in this case says is, `We're aware of the problem. We're working on the problem.' And if you leave these guys alone they'll be working on this problem until the cows come home. And I think what we need is strong legislation that says, `Sorry, you've had years and years to deal with this issue. But you're wasting billions of taxpayer dollars. We want action.' And I think we're going to need Congress to step in in a strong way to do that."

(Kinzel) Sanders says he plans to introduce legislation at the beginning of the new session in January that calls for much greater accountability of military spending.

For VPR News, I'm Bob Kinzel in Montpelier