[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 461 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 461

       Commending the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan 
    Reconstruction, John Sopko, and his office for their efforts in 
  providing accountability for taxpayer dollars spent in Afghanistan.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 12, 2016

Mr. Paul submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
       Commending the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan 
    Reconstruction, John Sopko, and his office for their efforts in 
  providing accountability for taxpayer dollars spent in Afghanistan.

Whereas the Office of Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction 
        (SIGAR) was created in 2008 ``to provide independent and objective 
        analysis and supervision of audits and investigations'', ``to promote 
        economy, efficiency, and effectiveness'', and to ``prevent and detect 
        waste, fraud, and abuse'' with regards to ``amounts appropriated or 
        otherwise made available for the reconstruction of Afghanistan'';
Whereas the Office of Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction 
        has, under the leadership of SIGAR John Sopko, been a strong voice for 
        the good stewardship of taxpayer dollars;
Whereas Special Inspector General Sopko has provided testimony 11 times before 
        Congress;
Whereas the recommendations of SIGAR have resulted in more than $1,000,000,000 
        in potential savings;
Whereas one investigation revealed contract bid-rigging and price-fixing that 
        led to the termination of a $1,000,000,000 Afghan Ministry of Defense 
        fuel contract, resulting in $214,000,000 in contract savings to the 
        United States Government;
Whereas SIGAR investigations into waste, fraud, and abuse have led to nearly 700 
        contractors being prohibited from future United States Government 
        contracts;
Whereas SIGAR exposed mismanagement and fraud within the United Nations-
        administered Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan, which provides 
        billions of dollars in payments to the Afghan National Police;
Whereas SIGAR has further exposed poor attendance and accounting procedures that 
        allow the existence of non-existent Afghan ``ghost'' soldiers and 
        police, whose salaries are pocketed by corrupt officials;
Whereas SIGAR discovered the expenditure of $6,000,000 on 9 goats meant to start 
        a cashmere industry in Afghanistan, the whereabouts of which are now 
        unknown;
Whereas SIGAR has attempted to provide accountability to $210,000,000 spent on 
        the construction of health care facilities in Afghanistan, discovering 
        that nearly 80 percent of facilities have incorrect location data, where 
        13 facilities were built outside of Afghanistan, including one in the 
        Mediterranean Sea;
Whereas SIGAR also investigated the circumstances that led to the construction 
        of a $36,000,000 United States military command and control facility at 
        Camp Leatherneck that the commanders on the ground stated they neither 
        wanted nor needed, and which was never occupied;
Whereas SIGAR brought to national attention that the Department of Defense lost 
        $29,000,000 worth of heavy equipment, such as tractor trucks and cranes, 
        which impeded efforts to constitute an independent Afghan equivalent to 
        the Army Corp of Engineers; and
Whereas SIGAR exposed the Department of Defense had spent $43,000,000 on a 
        Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) filling station, costing nearly 86 times 
        more than a similar project, and that further almost no vehicles in 
        Afghanistan run on CNG and the cost to convert a vehicle is more than 
        the average annual Afghan salary: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) commends the Office of the Special Inspector General 
        for Afghanistan Reconstruction for its ongoing role in 
        identifying and reducing waste, fraud, and abuse; and
            (2) urges all inspectors general to look to the Office of 
        the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction as an 
        example of the vigor and independence with which the Senate 
        expects inspectors general across government to pursue their 
        duty.
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