Today, Congressman Joe Baca (D-Rialto) voted to clean up America's defense acquisition spending, a process that is estimated to save taxpayers $27 billion a year while at the some time improving the flow of necessary equipment to our troops serving in harms way. H.R. 5013, the IMPROVE Acquisition Act, was approved by the House of Representatives with a 417 -- 3 vote.
"Years of waste, fraud, and abuse in America's defense acquisition spending have put a heavy burden on both the American taxpayer and on our men and women serving in uniform," said Rep. Baca. "By increasing accountability and transparency, this bill moves our defense acquisition process in a better direction, so we will never again see the rampant fraud that became so extensive in the early years of the Iraq war."
Last year, the Democratic-led Congress started the process to clean up wasteful defense spending by enacting bipartisan legislation that reformed the acquisition of weapon systems -- which accounts for about 20% of our defense acquisition dollars. The IMPROVE Acquisition Act builds upon this work by addressing the remaining 80% of defense acquisition spending -- for services and other non-weapons items.
The bill cleans up waste, fraud and abuse in the defense acquisition system through four key common-sense reforms: building a better accountability system, improving the management of the acquisition workforce, creating an auditable financial management system at DOD, and expanding and strengthening the industrial base to enhance competition and gain access to more technology.
"I am proud to support this long overdue bill, which creates a win-win situation for the American people," concluded Rep. Baca. "It ensures that our men and women who are risking their lives to keep us safe get the proper equipment they need as soon as possible. In addition, by cracking down on waste, fraud and abuse, it is estimated that the bill will save American taxpayers $27 billion a year."