Press Releases
Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami
202-226-7616
03/13/2007
Pelosi: Working To Restore Accountability To Washington
The 110th Congress is working to make progress for the American people on the toughest challenges we face – challenges that have gone unaddressed for years in Washington. Now there’s a new direction. From the first 100 hours to the coming months, our agenda includes action to defend our country, grow our economy, care for our children and families, preserve our planet, and restore accountability.
This week, the House agenda to Restore Accountability includes efforts to spend taxpayer dollars wisely, to change the way Congress and the federal government do business, and to shine a light on how government operates. Taken in context with what the 110th Congress has already put in place, it is a strong step forward. Lobbying reform efforts will continue after this week. This week’s highlights will include efforts to:
• End waste in federal contracting;
• Strengthen protections for federal “whistleblowers” who report waste, fraud, and abuse;
• Increase disclosure requirements for Presidential records;
• Require disclosure of big donors to Presidential libraries; and
• Provide long overdue and constitutionally-mandated oversight of the veterans’ health care crisis and other federal issues.
This coming week (March 12th), the House will take up or announce specific measures listed below—but we have also made great progress thus far in these areas.
Spending Taxpayer Dollars Wisely
The 110th Congress will return to the basic principles of fiscal responsibility, after the Administration has turned the largest surplus in American history into a record deficit.
Earmarks Cut in Half: The Democratic Leadership of the House is cutting in half the number of earmarks in this year’s appropriation bills
“Pay as you Go” Budgeting: The Democratic Leadership of the House has instituted “pay as you go” budget discipline, to ensure no new deficit spending.
Changing the Way We Do Business
Hurricane Katrina and the war in Iraq have highlighted the most egregious practices in federal government contracting, but reforms are needed in all areas. Additional lobbying reforms are yet to come. The Accountability in Contracting Act, sponsored by Chairman Waxman, is proposed to:
• Limit the duration of no-bid contracts awarded in emergencies to eight months. The Bush Administration has allowed such contracts awarded in emergencies to extend for years.
• Require large federal agencies to develop and implement a plan to minimize the use of noncompetitive contracts. Spending on no-bid contracts has more than doubled under the Bush Administration.
• Require large federal agencies to develop and implement a plan to minimize the use of cost-plus contracts. Cost-plus type contracts give contractors little or no incentive to control costs. This type of contract has grown by 75% during the Bush Administration.
• Require an agency to prepare a public letter explaining why it awarded a no-bid contract.
• Require that contract overcharges more than $1 million be disclosed to Congress. The Bush Administration has hidden contractor overcharges from Congress, international auditors, and the public, impeding oversight and diminishing accountability.
• Mandate that agencies devote at least an additional 1% of their procurement budgets to contract oversight, planning and administration.
• Closes the revolving door, requiring that former federal procurement officers wait one year before seeking employment at a lobbying or contracting firm. It would require that federal procurement officers wait one year before becoming involved in a contract given to a former employer. It also would allow the agency's ethics officer to issue a waiver for an employee to become involved in a procurement or contract with a former employer.
Greening the Capitol Complex: The House Leadership has directed the Chief Administrative Officer of the House to undertake a “Green the Capitol” initiative to ensure that the House institutes the most up-to-date industry and government standards for environmentally sustainable building and operating procedures.
Bipartisan Cooperation: The Democratic Leadership of the new Congress has already allowed four “open rule” votes, one more than the total number allowed under the previous two-year Congress.
Shining a Light on Government
Trust in government begins with citizen access to information, increased public disclosure of those that fund the political process, and greater protections for those who work to improve how taxpayer dollars are spent.
Whistleblower Reform: Strengthens protections for federal whistleblowers to prevent retaliation against those who report wrongdoing, waste, fraud, or abuse to authorities.
FOIA Reform: Amends the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in a dozen substantive provisions to provide for more timely disclosure of government documents, including restoring the presumption of disclosure to FOIA, helping FOIA requesters obtain timely responses, improving transparency in agency compliance with FOIA, providing an alternative to litigation, and providing accountability for FOIA decisions.
Presidential Records Disclosure: Opens the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007, to nullify a 2001 Presidential executive order and restore public access to Presidential records.
Presidential Library Donations: The Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2007 would require the disclosure of donors to Presidential libraries.
Strong Congressional Oversight: The 110th Congress has dramatically reversed years of neglect of the constitutional role of Congress in providing oversight of federal activities.
• War in Iraq: Between the House and Senate, more than 97 oversight hearings have looked into the conduct of the Iraq war.
• Veterans Health Care Crisis: In the wake of revelations of inadequate care and conditions for wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, both House and Senate committees have launched investigations.
• Possible Politicization of the Justice Department: Both House and Senate committees have looked into forced resignations of eight U.S. Attorneys, and the linkage to improper phone calls from Republican members of Congress and senior staff.
• Hurricane Katrina Response: House committees are looking into housing and health care crises that persist after the bungled response to the Gulf Coast disaster.
• Global Warming and Energy Independence: Committees are addressing the many aspects of the climate crisis and our dependence on non-renewable fuels from foreign sources.
• Upcoming Hearings will address the disclosure of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, homeland security technology, border patrol, oil and gas royalties, Intelligence, and the National Guard.
Some of the revelations coming out of these hearings include:
• In conjunction with the hearing on Walter Reed, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee obtained an Army memorandum that shows that the Army’s decision to privatize support services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was causing an exodus of “highly skilled and experienced personnel,” and that as a result “WRAMC Base Operations and patient care mission are at risk of mission failure.” According to the letter from Chairman Waxman, Walter Reed awarded a five-year, $120 million contract to IAP Worldwide Services -- one of the companies that experienced problems delivering ice during the response to Hurricane Katrina, and a company which is led by Al Neffgen, a former senior Halliburton official. [House Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, Hearing 3/5/07, Letter, 3/2/07]
• Government auditors testified an estimated $10 billion in Iraq Reconstruction spending had been wasted as a result of overcharging, poor tracking, and mismanagement by U.S. contractors – three times more than was estimated last fall. Defense auditors estimate that more than one of six dollars they have audited for Iraq are suspect – including $2.7 billion in Halliburton contracts. According to auditors, defense officials have rejected the majority of their recommendations to disallow unreasonable charges for these Iraq contracts. [House Oversight & Government Reform Committee – Full committee hearing on Iraq Reconstruction, February 15, 2007; AP, “Inquiry: $10 billion mismanaged in Iraq,” 2/15/07]
• Both the Army Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker and the now-former Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey testified that the Army was suffering equipment shortages and disrepair so significant that the service was not expected to be fully equipped until 2013.” [House Appropriations Committee – Defense Subcommittee, 2/9/2007; Congress Daily, “Army draws up $11 billion wish list to meet unfunded needs,” 2/9/07]
• The Army announced that it was withholding nearly $20 million from Halliburton after finding it hired Blackwater USA to provide security in violation of their contract. Last year, the Army insisted that there was no such connection between the two companies. [House Oversight & Government Reform Committee – Full committee hearing on Waste, Fraud & Abuse: Part II – Iraq Private Contractor Oversight, 2/9/07. New York Times, “Army Says it will Withhold $19.6 Million from Halliburton, Citing Potential Contract Breach,” 2/8/07]
First Steps to Restoring Trust
These issues are a strong beginning in our ongoing efforts to restore accountability and trust in Washington. They are part of the mandate of the last election. Together, we will build on this work throughout the tenure of the 110th Congress.