C&L Wayback Machine: Democrats fought against Walter Reed privatization

[Greeby]

Crooksandliars unearthed this old press release from Senator Mikulski issued on September 13th, 2006

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/03/05/democrats-fought-privatization-of-walter-reed/
http://mikulski.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=262947

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a letter today, Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) joined several of her Senate colleagues, including Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.), to urge Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Ranking Member Robert C. Byrd (D-W.V.) to preserve language in the House Defense Appropriations bill that prohibits the U.S. Army from outsourcing 350 federal jobs at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A similar provision, introduced by Senators Mikulski and Sarbanes, was defeated by a close 50-48 vote, during the bill’s consideration in the Senate last week.-snip-

And here's the vote which I dug up from the Senate records
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00234

[rockymountaindem]

1. Democrats: still protecting the troops while Republicans just talk about it

Score another one for privitization :sarcasm:

[Morgana LaFey]

9. I incrasingly think of privatization as creeping fascism

Remember: fascism is toooooo much coziness between govt and business. When you've got private companies performing too many of the functions that SHOULD be the government's to do (as we do all across the country), I now consider that fascism.

[eleny]

2. Good find!!!

:hi:

[KansDem]

3. Thanks, I can send this off to my two senators, who voted "yea"

Sens. Brownback and Roberts. I'll ask them why they don't support the troops.

Brownback particularly since he's eyeing the White House next year (or so I'm told)...

[wryter2000]

4. The R's who voted the right way

Chafee, Specter, Snowe, Collins, and Talent

If only we could trade Lieberman for Chafee.

[Greeby]

6. Hard job now, Chafee's gonem so is Talent nt

[wryter2000]

11. Yeah, I know

It just seems a shame that Chafee is out while Lieberman is still there. I wanted the Dem to win Chafee's seat, obviously, but still...

[Roland99]

5. Awesome find by C&L!

[progressoid]

7. Ya but, but, but, I thought unregulated private industry made everything better.

Thats what they tell me on the AM wireless.

[blossomstar]

8. The vote should be on the front page of every newspaper!

The senator's that voted yea here are responsible for this tragedy.

[Lasher]

10. Good work, Greeby.

Here's a round of applause for you:

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

Edit: The vote was on a motion to table (kill) the amendment, so those voting aye were against it and those voting nay were for it. Easy to get confused there.

[Up2Late]

12. All this misery for our wounded Solders for A POSSIBLE savings of LESS THAN $5 MILLION Dollars!

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=333097&mesg_id=333097>

DU Member Marie26 posted something at the bottom of the thread (link above) that was supposed to stop this. It was an Amendment by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., but it must have been been one of those things that got "stripped out" in the Republicans Only "conference committee." (Link below)

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=333097&mesg_id=353922>

Rep. Norton's press release -

Norton Saves Jobs for 350 Federal Workers at
Walter Reed in D.C. in DoD Appropriation

June 20, 2006

Washington, DC — In a spectacular turnaround win, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) tonight scored a victory that many had labeled impossible by convincing Department of Defense (DoD) appropriators to save the jobs of 350 federal employees scheduled to lose them this month as a result of an outsourcing contract at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Norton was able to get an amendment included in the House-passed DoD appropriation bill to block the privatization on the grounds that the bidding process--known as an A-76 privatization review-- was “illegal, wasteful, biased and botched.” Because the process took 68 months rather than 30, as required by a Defense Appropriations Subcommittee limitation enacted by Congress, “this privatization became the poster child for contracting out with unfairness to workers at hideous costs to taxpayers, rather than the savings required by law,” Norton said. “If allowed, the decision to contract out these services would have cost taxpayers almost $22 million, according to a cost estimate prepared by Walter Reed, instead of the initial purported savings of $7 million....”

And yet, they pretty much ignored all this and for what? A POSSIBLE savings of LESS THAN $5 MILLION Dollars! Check out the bottom of this article from June 23, 2006!!!

<http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34414&sid=6>

...In a June 7 letter to Sarbanes, William Armbruster, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for privatization and partnerships, estimated that the competition will cost $7.07 million. An additional $5.72 million expected to be incurred in transition costs, including incentives for voluntary separation and retirement, severance pay, and administrative costs.

"The contractor's cost proposal for the five-year term was almost $17.5 million less than the government workforce's cost proposal," Armbruster said. "Even with the extraordinary expenses of this competition, the resultant savings are significant." Based on Armbruster's figures, the savings would total $4.71 million.

John Threlkeld, a lobbyist for the American Federation of Government Employees, wrote in an analysis of the competition that the Army's cost estimate is "demonstrably flawed." It fails, he said, to take into account the $10 million "minimum cost differential" that federal rules require must be applied to contractor bids to account for costs associated with disruption and loss of productivity related to the competition process....

(clip)

...The Professional Services Council, an Arlington-based industry group, condemned the legislative move. Norton "slipped the amendment through -- there was no real debate or discussion ... It was a very clever, but outrageous move on her part," President Stan Soloway said. "I think it's outrageous that a delegate to Congress thinks it's appropriate to push through legislation to overturn a procurement award." (more at link) <http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34414&sid=6>

[Wickerman]

13. Thank. for this

Now, I'm off to see how Norm Coleman (R-MN) has been responding to the whole Walter Reed scandal. His vote will make him eat his words of "outrage". I smell a LTTE coming on.