Defense contractors paid too much, senator says
- By FederalSoup Staff
- Mar 16, 2018
Sen. Bernie Sanders is asking Defense Secretary James Mattis to rein in excessive compensation of defense contractors and address the misconduct and fraud in the defense contracting industry.
The Vermont Democratic senator, who is a ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, said about half of the Pentagon's $700 billion annual budget goes directly to private contractors. He noted that in 2017, the CEOs of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon– were each paid more than $20 million in total compensation, accounting for than 90 percent of those companies' revenue.
"What kind of message does it send when a defense contractor is paid 100 times more than the secretary of defense?" Sanders wrote in the letter dated March 14 to Mattis, adding that paying exorbitant salaries to defense contractor CEOs “is simply unacceptable."
“I think the American people would like to know why a defense contractor can pay its CEO over $20 million while your salary is capped at $205,700 and other members of the military are paid far less,” he continued.
He said more accountability is needed among those DoD employees who oversee such contracts.
Meanwhile, while these contractors are making significant profits from the federal government, nearly every major defense contractor in the past 20 years has paid millions of dollars in fines and settlements for misconduct and fraud, according to the lawmaker.
Without a specific deadline, the letter asked Mattis to Sanders a letter with recommendations for improvements on the issues cited.