Senate
Approves Legislation to Uncover Federal Programs
Susceptible to Financial Mismanagement
Billions
of Taxpayer Dollars Wasted Each Year in Improper Payments
Friday,
October 18, 2002
Washington,
DC - Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member
Fred Thompson (R-TN) announced today that the Senate has
approved legislation requiring federal agencies to identify and
report to Congress on programs that may be susceptible to
improper payments. Improper
payments result from a variety of causes ranging from
bureaucratic, such as paying someone twice, to outright fraud.
“The
amount of taxpayer dollars wasted year after year because of
improper payments is appalling, but even more frustrating is
that few agencies disclose these payments, so we have no way of
knowing the full extent of this mismanagement,” Senator
Thompson said. “This
legislation will give us a better grasp of the extent of the
problem, which is the first step toward correcting it.”
The
Senate passed H.R. 4878, the Improper Payments Information Act,
which includes a substitute offered by Senators Thompson and Joe
Lieberman (D-CT) that was adopted by the Governmental Affairs
Committee. The
Thompson-Lieberman substitute builds on legislation introduced
by Rep. Steve Horn (R-CA) and clarifies that the agencies’
reports should be publicly disclosed to Congress and it requires
the report to include a discussion of the causes of the improper
payments, the actions being taken to address the
situation, and the results of those actions. The House of
Representatives is expected to adopt the substitute amendment
when it reconvenes in November.
“Public
scrutiny is often the most effective tool in focusing agency
managers’ attention on certain issues, and Americans deserve
to know if their tax dollars are being mismanaged,” said
Thompson. “It is
not just the Administration’s responsibility to resolve
improper payment issues. Congress
holds the purse strings and should also be held accountable
should this problem fail to be resolved.”
Senator
Thompson recently released a report by the Government Accounting
Office that found six government agencies reporting more than
$19 billion in wasted taxpayer money.
The report also concluded that the actual extent of
improper payments government-wide is unknown, but it is likely
to be billions of dollars more.
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