Rep. AOC on Price Gouging in Military Contracts

Back in 2019, @OversightDems conducted a hearing during which we highlighted the outrageous profit margins a defense contractor, TransDigm, made on a 3-inch non-vehicular disk — it cost $30 to make, but was sold to the Department of Defense (DOD) for $1,400. Following the hearing, TransDigm returned $16.1 million to the DOD.

On January 19th, 2022, we held a second hearing because TransDigm's price-gouging is even more egregious than we had thought — they owe American taxpayers another $20.8 million.

The Pentagon has spent $14 TRILLION on military outsourcing since 2001. We hide the real price tag of our wars in contracts with private companies like TransDigm. The U.S. military’s reliance on contractors has led to the rise of the “camo economy,” in which the U.S. government camouflages the costs of war that might reduce public support for it. The so-called "defense contractor" industry profits -- and profiteers -- off of wars, so they lobby to prolong them.

Needless and exorbitant military spending is unacceptable.