WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, following the news of the Department of Defense (DOD) again failing its annual audit, Senator Rick Scott released the following statement slamming the department for being unable to account for its more than $820 billion budget funded by taxpayer dollars.

Senator Rick Scott said, “The Department of Defense has once again failed to account for its MASSIVE taxpayer-funded budget of over $820 billion. If we want to be the most lethal and powerful fighting force on Earth, we not only need to fund defense but do so smartly. That is impossible when the DoD cannot tell anyone how it spends its nearly $1 TRILLION budget funded by American taxpayers. The U.S. federal government is now more than $36 TRILLION in debt – that’s $9 TRILLION more than when President Biden took office thanks to his addiction to reckless spending. It’s time for a reckoning and I am confident that when President Trump takes office, the Senate confirms Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, and the new Department of Government Efficiency gets working, we will finally have accountability to the American taxpayer, and a lethal, not woke, military that terrifies our enemies and is respected by our allies. After years of the American people footing the bill for the mistakes and failures of the Biden-Harris administration, our government needs the wakeup call and that is what President Trump will soon deliver.”

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