{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://cooper.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/cooper-ogr-members-call-for-investigation-into-buried-pentagon-study", "Cooper, OGR Members Call for Investigation into Buried Pentagon Study", "2016-12-08", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "TN", "Jim Cooper", "C000754", "cooper.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (TN-05) and other members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today called for an investigation related to an internal Pentagon study that identified $125 billion in potential savings, but never saw the light of day.\nThe Washington Post this week described a \u201cburied\u201d study that \u2013 if implemented \u2013 would have made the Pentagon\u2019s \u201cenormous back-office bureaucracy more efficient\u201d; the study\u2019s proposals \u201cwould not have required layoffs of civil servants or reductions in military personnel.\u201d Savings were set to be reinvested in combat power.\n\u201cCongress needs to investigate why the Pentagon suppressed this report,\u201d Rep. Cooper said. \u201cIt is outrageous that the Pentagon could be wasting so much money.\u201d\nAccording to the Post, the $125 billion would be enough to \u201ccover the operational costs for 50 Army brigades, or 3,000 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the Air Force, or 10 aircraft-carrier strike groups for the Navy.\u201d\nThe letter, sent to Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, requests that Pentagon officials send documents and correspondence related to the study for further investigation.\nA copy of the letter\u00a0can be viewed here.", 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": ["http://cooper.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/cooper-ogr-members-call-for-investigation-into-buried-pentagon-study"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4916770160198212, "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"}