Weekly Spotlight: Rooting Out Waste
In 1982, Congress passed the Nunn-McCurdy Act — a bill that intended to curb Pentagon overspending by involving Congress when weapons programs go over their baseline estimates.
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ROOTING OUT WASTE
A new and improved Nunn-McCurdy on the horizon
In 1982, Congress passed the Nunn-McCurdy Act — a bill that intended to curb Pentagon overspending by involving Congress when weapons programs go over their baseline estimates. But more than four decades later, programs that go billions over budget and decades off schedule are rarely given the scrutiny or the ax they deserve (see: The F-35 Boondoggle). A bipartisan bill introduced this week could fix that by implementing crucial improvements to Nunn-McCurdy that POGO has long advocated for, finally giving the legislation the teeth it needs to function. We’re urging Congress to pass this common-sense bill and bring long-overdue accountability and fiscal responsibility to the Pentagon. No more blank checks for weapons programs and the corporate contractors behind them.
- READ MORE Congress Must Pass Landmark Nunn-McCurdy Reform: New legislation would curb Pentagon overspending and strengthen oversight of failing programs.
- “The biggest thing it does is it’s two strikes and you’re out. In the reform proposal, if a program hits two critical breaches, then it’s canceled automatically ... We view it as a way to create some urgency around the issue,” said POGO’s Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette in Federal News Network.
A strengthened and effective Nunn-McCurdy could mean the ax for egregiously wasteful programs like the F-35 and the Sentinel ICBM.
EXECUTIVE POWER GRAB
The Trump administration is breaking spending laws
Funding for Department of Energy clean energy programs that was allocated by Congress is being slashed and diverted by the Trump administration. It’s a potential violation of the Impoundment Control Act (ICA), a law that prevents the executive branch from overriding congressional spending decisions. This is not the administration’s first snatch at Congress’s purse strings — the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a legislative watchdog agency, has already found that the administration has broken the law in two of the 39 (and counting) impoundment cases currently under their investigation. The Trump administration has responded by retaliating against GAO, and an appropriations bill under consideration in Congress risked escalating the situation by drastically slashing GAO’s funding and severely undercutting the agency’s resources and ability to do its job. We’re glad to report that senators removed the spending cuts from the bill after POGO and other peer organizations urged them to protect GAO’s essential oversight. At a time when Congress’s power of the purse (and authority at large) is facing existential threats, it is crucial that Congress strengthens its watchdog and not hinder it.
- ANALYSIS Congress Must Protect the GAO from Executive Overreach: The Trump administration is attacking GAO, the legislative agency that investigates wasteful spending and improves government efficiency, writes POGO’s Janice Luong.
- Read the letter to Congress affirming the essential role of GAO, signed by POGO, R Street Institute, National Taxpayers Union, and a dozen other organizations.
ANALYSIS The Power of the Purse and Congress’s Fiscal Responsibility: The power of the purse is arguably Congress’s most essential tool and is central to the legislative branch’s purpose, writes POGO’s Faith Williams.
More news from the Pentagon
The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is entering the markup phase in Congress, meaning it is our chance to push for the spending, oversight, and transparency reform we want to see at the Pentagon. What that means for POGO:
- Advancing military right-to-repair: The Senate Armed Services Committee completed its markup of the NDAA and included a right-to-repair provision that was championed by Senators Tim Sheehy (R-MT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). The Pentagon shells out billions of dollars to defense contractor corporations for upkeep and repairs on equipment, despite the fact that service members have the skills to perform that maintenance themselves. The lack of right-to-repair affects service member safety and military readiness — and is a major drain on your tax dollars.
- Strengthening oversight of weapons acquisition: There’s more Congress can do in the acquisitions process to stop wasteful spending before it spirals out of control, like rejecting weapons programs that haven’t been tested and strengthening the Truth in Negotiations Act. POGO is urging the house to reject inclusion of speed act provisions in the NDAA, since those measures would eliminate crucial accounting standards so acquisition can move along quicker. Cost-effective and responsible spending should be the priority, even if it means things move slower.
