Govwatch

Introduced

In Committee

3

Passed One Chamber

4

Passed Both

5

Signed into Law

Sponsor

Bernard Sanders

Independent · VT · Senator

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (13)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.

2026-07-30

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

Currently in

Senate Committee on Armed ServicesReferred To · 2026-07-30

Plain-English Summary

The proposal would require the Department of Defense to undergo regular financial audits to track how taxpayer money is spent on military operations, equipment, and personnel. These audits would help identify waste, fraud, or mismanagement within the Pentagon's budget and make spending information more transparent to Congress and the public. The measure affects military leadership, defense contractors, and taxpayers who fund the Pentagon's roughly $800 billion annual budget.

AI-assisted summary generated from the official bill metadata (title, subjects, actions) sourced from Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed. Always verify against the official text linked below.

Subjects

Armed Forces and National Security

Full Bill Text

Verbatim text published on Congress.gov via GovInfo. Use Cmd+F / Ctrl+F to search within this excerpt.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 5185 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 5185 To provide for auditing of the Pentagon. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 30, 2026 Mr. Sanders (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. Warren, Mr. Booker, Ms. Smith, Mr. Markey, Mr. Lee, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Paul, Mr. Murphy, and Ms. Baldwin) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To provide for auditing of the Pentagon. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Audit the Pentagon Act''. SEC. 2. AUDITING THE PENTAGON. If during any fiscal year after fiscal year 2024, the Secretary of Defense determines that a department, agency, or other element of the Department of Defense has not achieved an unqualified opinion on its full financial statements for the calendar year ending during such fiscal year-- (1) the amount available to such department, agency, or element for the fiscal year in which such determination is made shall be equal to the amount otherwise authorized to be appropriated minus 2.0 percent; (2) the amount unavailable to such department, agency, or element for that fiscal year pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be applied on a pro rata basis against each program, project, and activity of such department, agency, or element in that fiscal year; and (3) the Secretary shall deposit in the general fund of the Treasury for purposes of deficit reduction all amounts unavailable to departments, agencies, and elements of the Department in the fiscal year pursuant to determinations made under paragraph (1). <all>

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