{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-paul-applauds-first-full-scale-defense-department-audit/", "Dr. Rand Paul Applauds First Full-Scale Defense Department Audit", "2017-12-14", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:\n\nDecember 14, 2017\n\nContact: Press@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) issued the following statement regarding the Pentagon\u2019s recent announcement of the first full-scale financial audit of the Department of Defense (DoD), with audits to be conducted annually going forward:\n\n\u201cOur men and women on the frontlines deserve to know their funding is being used as intended and to the maximum possible effectiveness. Unfortunately, the department charged with carrying out our greatest constitutional responsibility has set the lowest possible standard for accountability. I applaud President Trump\u2019s administration for changing this course, and I will keep working to ensure this is only the start of reform,\u201d said Dr. Paul.\n\nAs part of a series on the DoD in 2013, Reuters stated that it had \u201cfound that the Pentagon is largely incapable of keeping track of its vast stores of weapons, ammunition and other supplies; thus it continues to spend money on new supplies it doesn\u2019t need and on storing others long out of date.\u201d\n\nSince his arrival in the U.S. Senate, Dr. Paul has been a leading voice for increasing fiscal responsibility at the DoD, including working with former Senator Tom Coburn to introduce the Audit the Pentagon Act, which he has continued to support in the 114th and 115th Congresses.\n\nDr. Paul has also called attention to waste and mismanagement of funds at the DoD through his Waste Report, which has covered stories including millions of dollars in equipment and parts failing to reach their destination or going unaccounted for and a $6 million renovation of a Fort Belvoir dining facility that closed less than a year later.\n\nYou can read these Waste Reports below:\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T22:19:19Z"]], "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://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-paul-applauds-first-full-scale-defense-department-audit/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0415799915790558, "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"}