By Staff Reporter |

The latest National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has two key amendments from the Republican nominee for Arizona governor, Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05). 

The two bipartisan-backed amendments impose budgetary restrictions for poor financial management, and a counter to the Chinese threat of critical mineral mining dominance. 

Biggs explained in a statement that the two amendments were critical for public confidence in government accountability and independence concerning nonfuel minerals.

“My amendments address critical issues within America’s massive national defense apparatus, ensuring more transparency and accountability within our government and closing the gap between China and the United States for a critical workforce,” said Biggs.

One of the amendments establishes greater financial oversight of the Department of Defense (DOD). The amendment language was derived from Biggs’ “Audit the Pentagon Act,” one of the first bills introduced by Biggs in 2017. 

The amendment requires the DOD, and certain military departments and defense agencies, to submit a financial statement for the previous year and receive an audit opinion. Without a financial statement and audit opinion, the discretionary budget authority will be reduced by 0.5%, except for accounts handling military, reserve, and National Guard personnel and the Defense Health Program. 

The DOD has presented “unauditable financial statements” for decades and to date has been the only major federal agency to have never passed an audit, according to a May report by the General Accounting Office (GAO). Since 2018, the Pentagon has failed eight consecutive agency-wide annual audits. 

The DOD spends more than $1 trillion annually on foreign and domestic defense — nearly half of the federal government’s discretionary spending. It also retains approximately 82% of the federal government’s total physical assets and its financial management problems account for 17% of the federal government’s costs. 

The DOD’s prolonged financial weaknesses contributed to the U.S. insolvency announced by the Treasury Department earlier this year. The U.S. has about $6 trillion in assets against nearly $48 trillion in liabilities.  

The GAO reported that the DOD had more than $16 billion worth of previously untracked assets and inventory. 

Last month, the GAO reported that the DOD weapons programs have continued wasting billions of dollars and decades of time from exceeding cost estimates and delivery schedules.

The other amendment boosted federal support for accredited mining engineering programs. Chinese mining engineering graduates outnumber American mining engineering graduates annually by anywhere from 15 to 1, to 50 to 1. China reports graduating 3,000 to 10,000 mining-related engineers across dozens of programs, while America reports graduating about 200. 

Mining engineering program graduates peaked in 1980, declining from then until 2004, when program resurgence occurred until 2015, according to data from the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration. Even at its most high peak in 1980 and most recent high peak in 2015, graduates numbered between 600 and 700 a year. 

The University of Arizona has a mining program. 

President Donald Trump issued a memorandum in May directing the Office of Personnel Management to impose critical position pay for up to 400 positions oriented toward expanding U.S. critical mineral capacity, along with advanced materials and other essential components for the supply chain. 

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