MSU scholars find $21 trillion in unauthorized government spending; Defense Department to conduct first-ever audit.
Earlier this year, a Michigan State University economist, working with graduate students and a former government official, found $21 trillion in unauthorized spending in the departments of Defense and Housing and Urban Development for the years 1998-2015.
Now, the Department of Defense has announced it will conduct the first department-wide, independent financial audit in its history (read the Dec. 7 announcement here).
Given the Army’s $122 billion budget, that meant unsupported adjustments were 54 times spending authorized by Congress.
Typically, such adjustments in public budgets are only a small fraction of authorized spending.
They found documents indicating a total $21 trillion in undocumented adjustments over the 1998-2015 period.
“Taken together these reports point to a failure to comply with basic constitutional and legislative requirements for spending and disclosure,” the column concludes. »
