Waxman: Bushco "The result has been billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse."

[kpete]

Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
Unimplemented IG Recommendations Costing Taxpayers Billions of Dollars

Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Sen. Claire McCaskill, and Rep. Ed Towns issued a new report that finds that the Bush Administration has failed to implement over 13,000 recommendations made by Inspectors General (IGs) since 2001. Federal agencies could save taxpayers over $25 billion by implementing these open recommendations.

“Under the Bush Administration, thousands of proposals to make government more efficient languished,” said Rep. Waxman. “The result has been billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse. Congress will work with the new Administration to restore accountability and increase the effectiveness of our government.”

“If someone told me that I was losing change from a hole in my pocket and instead of mending it I kept losing money, shame on me. But that’s what has happened over the past seven years to the tune of $25 billion, as thousands of inspectors general recommendations were ignored by our government,” said Sen. McCaskill. “It’s time to finally get out some needle and thread.”

“The Inspectors General have done the hard work of identifying waste and fraud, but agencies have not been fixing the problems,” said Rep. Towns. “Congress and the Obama Administration should keep the spotlight on wasteful programs until they are running efficiently.”

The House Oversight Committee asked the nation’s IGs to identify all recommendations made between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2008, that had not been implemented by federal agencies. The information provided shows that the Bush Administration failed to implement 13,847 recommendations since 2001, which could have saved taxpayers $25.9 billion. Almost half of these recommendations were made over a year ago, and more than a quarter were made over two years ago.

The five agencies that could save the most money by implementing open recommendations are the Social Security Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In addition to costing taxpayers billions of dollars, the failure of federal agencies to implement IG recommendations poses serious risks to the American people. Thousands of unimplemented recommendations would improve national and homeland security, public health and safety, environmental protection, and Americans’ overall quality of life.

Documents and Links
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=2299

[mod mom]

1. and who pocketed that billions in waste, fraud, and abuse? hmmh...

[patrice]

2. Why isn't this MALFEASANCE?

"Demand lower taxes, because Government is bad, and we know that is true because we make DAMN sure that it is!"

[spanone]

3. and not a single indictment, barely an inquiry, impeachment OFF THE TABLE

[AndyA]

4. Republicans = waste, fraud, and abuse.

Why would anyone be surprised? The GOP has always done this. :shrug:

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. they never get caught usually

anyone who whistleblows on them gets downed in their small plane

[LiberalEsto]

6. Federal contracting urgently needs a GAO review

I live about 15 miles outside Washington DC. Over the past 8 years I've seen more and more federal work outsourced to contractors. This was the Misadministration's plan: to shrink the federal government until, as neocon Grover Norquist said, it can be drowned in a bathtub. You can hardly move in Montgomery County, MD, without tripping over some federal contractor or another.

I don't have any statistics -- that's why I feel a GAO review is so essential -- but I feel in my bones that this contracting policy is costing taxpayers a hell of a lot more money than the old way of doing things. I feel contracted work disappears from public scrutiny, and I suspect contractors are a heck of a lot less committed to the taxpaying public. As an example, just look at the way government contractors like Halliburton supplied lousy food and water to our troops serving in Iraq, while pocketing millions of dollars as yet unaccounted for.

People who work for contractors -- and I was one of them for a while -- have far less job security and fewer benefits than federal civil service employees receive. And the Misadministration has been fighting to destroy or weaken the Civil Service since Day 1.

One of the first things I'd like to see the Obama Administration tackle is a thorough investigation of whether this contracting policy has in any way been cost-effective and beneficial. My suspicion is that the results will show exactly the opposite -- that contracting federal government work out to private firms has been a massive boondoggle costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

We will need to make a massive effort to make the federal government responsive and cost-effective during these difficult economic times, and this would be a logical place to begin.