[Comments on H.R. 3886]

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO commented on H.R. 3886, which would require that the president's fiscal year budget contain the same economic assumptions pertaining to inflation for major Department of Defense (DOD) weapons systems as the rest of the budget. This would eliminate the current exception that allows DOD to use a special inflation multiplier for major weapons systems. Although the DOD special multiplier is excessive under current economic conditions, GAO believes that: (1) the proposed actions would remove the flexibility needed if economic conditions change; (2) legislation requiring continual monitoring and corrective action is inefficient; and (3) H.R. 3886 should require DOD to monitor inflation dividends or shortfalls and report current information to Congress at the critical stages of the budget deliberation process.