{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://jasonlewis.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=127", "Lewis welcomes long called-for Pentagon Audit", "2017-12-11", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "MN", "Jason Lewis", "L000587", "jasonlewis.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Jason Lewis (MN-02) issued the following statement after the Department of Defense (DOD) Comptroller David Norquist announced the start of an audit of the Pentagon, something Lewis has long called for and has introduced legislation to mandate:\r\n\u201cOur men and women in the field need the right resources, and without an audit of the DOD it\u2019s been impossible to know whether its multi-billion dollar budget was being spent responsibly. I\u2019m glad to see an audit finally beginning (as has been in law since 1990). I\u2019ve been calling for this since my arrival in Congress, with my Defense Spending Accountability Act and language in the House Budget highlighting the importance of the audit.\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s important that we use what we learn from an audit to reduce waste and make the Pentagon much more accountable to the people it serves. Military readiness doesn\u2019t equal spending for spending\u2019s sake. We can have the best military in the world and tackle our national debt simultaneously, and I look forward to the results of the audit helping to guide the government in making progress on both of these important goals.\u201d\r\nBackground: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has placed DOD on the High Risk List since 1995.\u00a0 This means DOD has had sustained and uncorrected deficiencies, on a massive scale, in their financial management. As GAO has stated, this has hindered the DOD\u2019s ability to make sound and financially prudent decisions. This not only wastes taxpayer dollars, it also makes it harder to ensure military readiness.\r\nThe Washington Post reported that the Pentagon buried a report that showed $125 billion in administrative waste- read it here. This is the first-ever audit of the DOD\u2019s $2.4 trillion in assets. Lewis\u2019 H.R. 2040, the Defense Spending Accountability Act, can be read here.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://jasonlewis.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=127"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4262823387980461, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}