Defending our nation is one of the federal government’s most sacred duties. To truly be a free country, we must be a safe one. Congress has a responsibility to make sure every defense dollar goes to strengthening our national security — not propping up programs that don’t deliver. When oversight falls short, both taxpayers and servicemembers suffer.
As members of the House Armed Services Committee, we work every day to strengthen our national security by overseeing the Department of Defense and ensuring our service members have the resources they need. With growing threats from around the globe, this work has never been more important.
That is why we need to be smart about how we spend our defense dollars. Wasteful spending hurts not only taxpayers, but also our military readiness. Every dollar wasted is a dollar stolen from the vital missions of our men and women in uniform — from the Travis and Beale Air Force bases in California, to the Homestead Air Reserve Base and Naval Air Station Key West in Florida, and so many more.
Unfortunately, the process for managing cost overruns in major defense programs isn’t working. When programs go over budget, there’s supposed to be a safeguard in place. Under a law called the Nunn-McCurdy Act, the Pentagon is required to notify Congress when programs exceed their original budgets. This then prompts the Secretary of Defense to “certify” whether these over-budget programs should continue.
This is all good in theory, but “certify” is in quotations for a reason. In practice, the law has become little more than a rubber stamp. Programs can repeatedly blow past their budgets while the root causes of this overspending are never addressed. And because the Defense Secretary can delegate certification authority to the very officials who oversee these over-budget programs, the incentives for accountability are weak.
Too often, oversight comes too late or not at all. Congress has a responsibility to step in when Americans’ tax dollars are on the line, but we’re often left out of the loop. Under the current law, the Pentagon can wait as long as 90 days to tell Congress about major cost overruns — long after critical decisions have been made. In the end, taxpayers are left footing the bill and our troops are left waiting for the tools they need.
That is why we have teamed up to solve this problem. We have introduced bipartisan legislation to reform the Nunn-McCurdy Act, giving Congress greater oversight and enforcing more accountability for cost overruns.
Our bill would shorten the Pentagon’s window to notify Congress from 90 days to 30, ensuring that we and our colleagues receive more timely information. It would also establish meaningful consequences. After a second critical cost breach, programs would face automatic termination — removing the option to repeatedly certify programs that fail to meet expectations. No more third, fourth, or fifth chances when our national security is at stake.
This isn’t about cutting important defense programs. It’s about making sure every dollar we spend actually delivers. Even well-intentioned programs like the Ford-class carrier and Zumwalt-class destroyer have experienced significant setbacks, making oversight even more necessary and our bill even more urgent.
This legislation is a chance for Congress to reassert its oversight role. Our constituents elected us to fight for them and their interests. They expect us to be good stewards of their hard-earned tax dollars, making sure that money is spent wisely and produces real results. Our bill would do just that. It helps Congress ensure that our defense spending actually strengthens our defense capabilities, and it helps the entire federal government better serve the American people.
Congress cannot continue with business as usual. Taxpayers deserve better. Our troops deserve better. And our national security demands better. The time for real reform is now.
