WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today released the following statement regarding a recent report that the TransDigm Group has announced it will repay the Pentagon for excess profits it took on over-priced spare parts.
“This is a positive first step in recouping the millions of taxpayer dollars that have been lost to waste, fraud and abuse but more needs to be done,” Grassley said. “Transparency is critical to fiscal responsibility. My investigation into price-gouging generally and whether TransDigm specifically has systematically taken advantage of taxpayers will continue.”
Earlier this month, Grassley sent a letter to Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan asking for more information about how the DoD contracts with businesses and other entities in overpricing, specifically citing TransDigm. Additionally, Grassley asked about DoD’s process to collect cost data from those entities and how Congress can help DoD to stop price-gouging practices.
Grassley also critiqued DoD’s contracts with TransDigm in a floor speech and an op-ed.
Grassley has been a watchdog against waste, fraud and abuse at the DoD for nearly four decades. Grassley’s extensive oversight work throughout his career has included a dogged pursuit for answers from the Pentagon over decades of wasteful spending and its inability to produce a clean financial audit. Most recently, Grassley pressed the DoD on why it was purchasing cups that cost $1,280 each. Last year, Grassley sent a letter to Department of Defense Principal Deputy Inspector General Glenn A. Fine seeking answers on why the department was wasting $14,000 of taxpayer money on individual toilet seat covers. Grassley has also worked to hold the Defense Department accountable for its excessive and largely unaccounted for spending in Afghanistan, including a $43 million gas station.
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