A bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers is asking Pentagon leadership to “curtail” the department’s use of “unfunded priorities” lists, which seeks additional funds beyond what is included in budget requests submitted to Congress.
The lawmakers, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin seeking his support to curb the practice, calling the lists “wasteful and inefficient tools that increase spending beyond DoD’s core priorities.”
“We are increasingly concerned that budget gamesmanship is leading to the placement of critical programs in ‘unfunded priorities’ lists, rather than the department’s initial budget which should be accurately reflecting our true national security priorities,” the lawmakers write in the letter. “The abuse of these unfunded priorities lists also undermine transparency in the budget process.”
The letter’s signees include Warren and fellow Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), along with Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) as well as Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Tom McClintock (R-Calif.).
The group notes that last year’s initial set of unfunded priorities lists from the military services and DoD components totaled $24 billion, above the original budget request of $773 billion, which was followed by another request of $25 billion in November.
Unfunded priorities lists, as the lawmakers note, do not have to include information on long-term costs associated with programs included in the lists, which they call “information necessary to understand the multi-year impact of supporting additional programs.”
“The Department of Defense must show taxpayers that it is a responsible steward of its funds. That must begin with eliminating the practice of sending Congress bloated wish lists for additional funds on top of its core budget submissions,” the lawmakers write in the letter.
The lawmakers specifically urge Austin to support the Streamline Pentagon Budgeting Act , introduced in both the House and Senate at the end of last Congress, which would repeal the mandate for DoD components to produce unfunded priorities lists.
“We urge the department to support this bill and will continue to work with our colleagues to repeal this wasteful and unnecessary requirement that undermines budget discipline,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter.