The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“GOVERNMENT WASTE” mentioning the Department of Interior was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H7798 on Sept. 3, 2003.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
GOVERNMENT WASTE
(Mrs. BLACKBURN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to speak on the enormous waste that occurs every day as Federal agencies continually fail to use proper oversight of disbursements of taxpayer dollars, and I want to cite three specific examples.
Instead of using its Federal food stamp funds to provide food for poor children, California chose to waste these funds on microwave ovens, catering services, and even on fees for marriage licenses. Some agencies, like the Departments of Education and Commerce, have such inadequate computer systems that over $2 million of illegal meal reimbursements and payroll tax withholdings were not detected and escaped oversight. And these systems are inadequate, even though they continue to inappropriately spend millions of dollars trying to devise systems.
In the past few years, the Federal Department of the Interior was unable to account for $11 billion of its financial transactions until it checked with other Federal agencies for confirmation of payment.
Mr. Speaker, all of these examples stand as proof of why this Congress must continue to hold Federal agencies responsible and accountable for their accounting standards and move them toward compliance with the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act. Otherwise, Mr. Speaker, this government will not make any progress in reducing our bloated Federal bureaucracy; and billions of dollars in taxpayer money will continue to be wasted.
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