U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst has launched laws to audit the Pentagon with years-long intentions to make sure that United States taxpayers are getting probably the most bang for his or her buck, in keeping with a duplicate of the invoice first shared with Navy.com.
The laws, referred to as the “Reviewing Each Examine and Every Bill Buying Troops’ Provides” Act or the ‘‘RECEIPTS Act,” comes as President Donald Trump has brazenly referred to as for rising the present 2026 Fiscal Yr protection funds as a lot as $600 billion, hypothetically totaling $1.5 trillion based mostly on present numbers.
Ernst is asking for that protection funds to symbiotically assist each warfighters and taxpayers, aiming for a 2028 timeline to get the Pentagon again on observe and fiscally accountable after a string of failed audits that date again a couple of decade.
I’m declaring battle in opposition to waste in Washington, and battle No. 1 is accounting for each cent spent on the Pentagon—the one federal company that has by no means handed an audit. I’m a agency believer that the {dollars} we spend on the army ought to go to our troops, not misplaced to fraud, waste or abuse. – Sen. Joni Ernst to Navy.com
“My new laws provides the Pentagon the instruments to just do that by streamlining and modernizing its auditing system. That is mission essential as a result of each misspent greenback might come on the value of defending our nation or shortchanging our servicemembers,” the senator added.
Placing a Plan in Place
One of many keystones of the invoice, in keeping with Ernst’s workplace, can be to require new assets for synthetic intelligence and enterprise techniques to avoid wasting each time and cash whereas reviewing the army’s invoices and spending.
Different notable features of the launched laws embody:
- Permitting extra reprogramming and switch authority if the army will get a clear audit opinion.
- Requiring senior monetary officers of the Pentagon to have extra monetary and accounting expertise.
- Redirecting the Protection Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) to solely concentrate on its army mission.
- Creating the Pentagon audit committee to supervise its impartial exterior auditors much like how the personal sector operates.
Navy.com reached out to the Pentagon for remark.
Reversing a Unfavourable Pattern
The Pentagon has been a degree of emphasis, or concern relying on who you ask, because of continuously failed audits for the reason that first one again in 2018.
In December 2025, the Pentagon introduced it had failed its eighth consecutive audit.
The division can’t resolve many years of battle, neglect of America’s protection industrial base, and hovering nationwide debt by way of unchecked spending. – Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth in a press release coinciding with the audit
The division’s CFO wrote in a letter related to the audit that they’re “dedicated to resolving its essential points and reaching an unmodified audit opinion by 2028.”
Ernst identified disparities in profitable audits when evaluating the Pentagon and U.S. Marine Corps, the latter of which simply introduced earlier this week that it had handed its third consecutive audit.
In response to a press launch, the USMC stated their audit course of enabled correct international monitoring and reporting of monetary transactions, stock of services, gear and belongings, and accounting for taxpayer {dollars} spent over the last fiscal yr. Auditors additionally examined the Marines Corps’ community, key enterprise techniques, and inside controls.
“Passing our third consecutive audit is a direct reflection of who we’re as Marines,” Gen. Eric M. Smith, Commandant of the Marine Corps stated in a press release. “Self-discipline, accountability and stewardship should not administrative duties; they’re a part of our warfighting tradition.
“When the American folks entrust us with their tax {dollars}, we owe them cautious judgment and integrity in how these {dollars} are spent. Receiving our third consecutive clear audit opinion affirms that Marines take that accountability severely at each stage, in each unit.”
