Oversight on Waste, Fraud and Abuse
On January 14, the House passed H.Res. 40, a resolution that amends House rules to require standing committees to hold periodic hearings on waste, fraud and abuse.
For the first six years of the Bush Administration, there was virtually no oversight by the Republican-led Congress. With the GOP-led Congress turning a blind eye, there were numerous cases of fraud and abuse and the waste of hard-earned taxpayer dollars by executive agencies – ranging from Iraq reconstruction to responding to Katrina.
Beginning in January 2007, the new Democratic-led 110th Congress took numerous steps to begin to change the way we do business in Washington and to restore accountability and oversight. According to the Brookings Institution, the Democratic-led 110th Congress conducted a total of 1,403 oversight hearings over the two-year period – covering such varied topics as the waste, fraud and abuse in contracts for Iraq reconstruction, the mismanagement of Katrina-related contracts, and the overuse of “cost-plus” contracting.
Over the last several years, we have seen massive cases of waste, fraud and abuse. For example, a report, prepared by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, which will be officially released in February, reportedly labels the Iraq reconstruction effort “a $100 billion failure”-- marked by poor planning, waste, and deception. A key example of Iraqi contract abuses was with Halliburton – with Pentagon auditors questioning $1.4 billion of the billings Halliburton submitted. Former Halliburton employees testified that the company charged $45 for cases of soda, billed $100 to clean 15-pound bags of laundry, and insisted on housing its staff at a five-star hotel in Kuwait. Halliburton procurement officials described the company’s informal motto in Iraq as “Don’t worry about price. It’s cost-plus.”
An overview of the bill's provisions:
At least one hearing on waste, fraud and abuse during each 120-day period. This resolution amends House rules to require that each House standing committee or a subcommittee thereof conduct at least one hearing during each 120-day period on the topic of waste, fraud and abuse and mismanagement in the agencies under the committee’s jurisdiction. Such hearing shall include a focus on the most egregious instances of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement as documented by any report the committee has received from a Federal Office of the Inspector General or the Comptroller General of the United States.
At least one additional hearing if auditor disclaimers. The resolution also requires that each House standing committee or a subcommittee thereof conduct at least one additional hearing per year if an agency’s auditors issue disclaimers in that agency’s financial report.
At least one additional hearing if program listed as “high risk” for waste, fraud and abuse. Finally, the resolution also requires that each House standing committee or a subcommittee thereof conduct at least one additional hearing if a program under its jurisdiction is listed as “high risk” for waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement by the U.S. Comptroller General.