[House Prints 108-2]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[COMMITTEE PRINT]
ADDRESSING GOVERNMENT
WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE
SUBMISSION BY HOUSE COMMITTEES
and the
U.S. GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE
pursuant to section 301 of h. con. res. 95
__________
COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TONGRESS.#13
SEPTEMBER 2003
Serial No. CP-2
__________
THIS REPORT HAS NOT BEEN OFFICIALLY APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE ON THE
BUDGET
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Budget
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COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
JIM NUSSLE, Iowa Chairman
CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut JOHN M. SPRATT, Jr., South
Vice Chairman Carolina,
GIL GUTKNECHT, Minnesota Ranking Minority Member
MAC THORNBERRY, Texas JAMES P. MORAN, Virginia
JIM RYUN, Kansas DARLENE HOOLEY, Oregon
PAT TOOMEY, Pennsylvania TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
DOC HASTINGS, Washington DENNIS MOORE, Kansas
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio JOHN LEWIS, Georgia
EDWARD SCHROCK, Virginia RICHARD E. NEAL, Massachusetts
HENRY E. BROWN, Jr., South Carolina ROSA DeLAURO, Connecticut
ANDER CRENSHAW, Florida CHET EDWARDS, Texas
ADAM PUTNAM, Florida ROBERT C. SCOTT, Virginia
ROGER WICKER, Mississippi HAROLD FORD, Tennessee
KENNY HULSHOF, Mississippi LOIS CAPPS, California
THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado MIKE THOMPSON, California
DAVID VITTER, Louisiana BRIAN BAIRD, Washington
JO BONNER, Alabama JIM COOPER, Tennessee
TRENT FRANKS, Arizona RAHM EMANUEL, Illinois
SCOTT GARRETT, New Jersey ARTUR DAVIS, Alabama
J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina DENIS MAJETTE, Georgia
THADDEUS McCOTTER, Michigan RON KIND, Wisconsin
MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida
JEB HENSARLING, Texas
GINNY BROWN-WAITE, Florida
Professional Staff
Rich Meade, Chief of Staff
Thomas S. Kahn, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Chairman's Introduction.......................................... 1
Submission by the U.S. General Accounting Office................. 3
Submissions by House Committees:
Agriculture.................................................. 305
Education and the Workforce.................................. 309
Energy and Commerce.......................................... 319
Financial Services........................................... 323
Government Reform............................................ 331
House Administration......................................... 339
International Relations...................................... 343
Judiciary.................................................... 387
Small Business............................................... 393
Transportation and Infrastructure............................ 397
Veterans' Affairs............................................ 403
Ways and Means............................................... 419
CHAIRMAN'S INTRODUCTION
----------
The problems of waste, fraud, and abuse in government
programs have never been easy to resolve. Government lacks the
built-in incentives that drive commercial enterprises,
constantly, to reduce waste and improve efficiency. Over the
years, therefore, Congress has created watchdogs, such as the
General Accounting Office [GAO] and the Inspectors General, to
track down systemic failures in government management. It has
written laws, such as the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990,
and the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, calling
for regular measurements of government activities and
expenditures. From time to time, various appropriating and
authorizing committees have performed oversight of programs in
their jurisdictions. Three years ago, the Budget Committee
itself conducted its own examination of the continuing problems
of waste, fraud, and abuse.
But the need is especially acute today, with America facing
the uncompromising requirements of winning the war against
international terrorism, protecting Americans at home, and
promoting sustained economic growth and job creation. Given
these obligations, along with the myriad other demands on
government resources, Congress and the President must do
everything possible to assure that government funds are managed
responsibly.
This year the House of Representatives has advanced this
ongoing effort to another stage. The conference report on the
budget resolution for fiscal year 2004 (H. Con. Res. 95)
formally required House authorizing committees to investigate
programs in their respective jurisdictions, identify instances
of waste, fraud, and abuse, and recommend ways of reducing or
eliminating it. The resolution also called for a report on the
subject from GAO.
This committee print contains the findings of the House
committees and GAO as submitted to the Budget Committee.
As implied above, this report is neither the beginning nor
the end of anything. It is continuation of efforts that have
been going on for years and that must continue for years in the
future. Government waste cannot be eliminated by a single
agency, or a single legislative vehicle, or a single report. It
will be reduced only by the constant and ongoing work of those
who maintain a simple, fundamental belief: that Congress has a
moral obligation to manage the public's money responsibly.
Jim Nussle,
Chairman.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
House of Representatives,
Committee on Agriculture,
Washington, DC, September 10, 2003.
The Hon. Jim Nussle,
Chairman, House Committee on the Budget,
Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: Pursuant to section 301 of the
Concurrent Resolution on the Budget--Fiscal Year 2004, we are
including below the findings of the Committee on Agriculture
with respect to programs within the Committee's jurisdiction.
We commend the Budget Committee's efforts to identify
waste, fraud, and abuse in government programs. Doing so is
important to the nation's hard-working taxpayers who deserve
value and efficiency in the government programs they pay for.
The Committee on Agriculture has long viewed eliminating
waste, fraud, and abuse in government programs as a critical
aspect of our oversight responsibilities. That is why when
problems have been identified, we have moved quickly to address
them through legislation, when needed, or by working with
Administration officials to make changes in rules and
regulations. Our long term commitment to correcting problems is
confirmed by our record. Here are a few examples:
We addressed fraud in the Federal crop insurance program by
limiting double insurance on the same acres in the same season,
requiring that social security or tax identification numbers be
used to track producers who previously would switch agents or
companies for fraudulent activities, and encouraging the use of
data mining techniques to identify schemes and devices used by
agents, adjusters, and producers.
We addressed fraud in both the commodity programs and crop
insurance by requiring that producer information be reconciled
between the Farm Service Agency's commodity programs and the
Risk Management Agency's crop insurance programs.
We addressed fraud in the food stamp program by requiring
the use of EBT (electronic benefit transfer) cards to reduce
trafficking in food stamp benefits and by tightening food stamp
administration to ensure that certain classes of ineligible
persons (such as prisoners) do not receive food stamps.
Following the instructions of your May 20 letter, we have
made every effort to identify changes in legislation that would
allow us to save $5.25 billion of projected mandatory program
costs (1% of the total) over 10 years due to waste, fraud, and
abuse.
Unfortunately, this is a very difficult legislative task.
The steps needed to eliminate much--if not most--of the fraud
and abuse uncovered by the Inspector Generals (OIG), the
General Accounting Office (GAO), and others require
management--not legislative--changes. They require increased
vigilance and enhanced enforcement efforts under existing legal
authority--not new legal authority.
Certainly it would be possible to write into law general
instructions to USDA to do a better job in minimizing waste,
fraud, and abuse. Unfortunately, the Congressional Budget
Office will not score any budget savings for such general
language.
We must constantly work to find the proper balance for
enforcement activities. Our programs--whether food stamps or
farm income support--are critically important to the well-being
of recipients. Our society does not gain if, by writing the
rules so tightly that no one receives benefits who shouldn't,
we deny benefits to those who should receive (and need)
benefits.
We recognize that there is substantial policy disagreement
for many areas-not just for agriculture-as to what constitutes
``waste.''
So with the above concerns as background, this is what we
have done.
We first reviewed reports from the U.S. General Accounting
Office and the Office of the Inspector General of the U. S.
Department of Agriculture. We also reviewed budget reduction
options from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and ideas
from think tanks. We had discussions with GAO and OIG staff. We
held hearings on food stamps and crop insurance to better
understand how program administrators are dealing with fraud
problems.
Based on this extensive review, we have identified a number
of options for reducing the costs of federal programs. This
list includes options to reduce possible waste, fraud, and
abuse but also includes options to improve the economy,
efficiency, and effectiveness of programs, as well as options
affecting worthy programs that it may turn out we simply cannot
afford to fund as generously as we would like. The options
include:
Mandating increased use of advanced statistical
techniques to guide fraud investigations in the crop insurance
and commodity programs.
Tightening compliance measures for commodity
programs.
Consolidating commodity program payment statements
to producers.
Phasing-in a moratorium on land purchases by the
Forest Service.
Improving the delivery of rural development
programs.
Modifying nutrition programs.
Reorganizing USDA to eliminate duplicative
organization structures.
Based on CBO estimates (supplemented, when necessary, by
Committee staff estimates), we believe that this list of
possible options represents a ten-year savings pool of more
than $10 billion--well beyond the $5.25 billion specified in
this year's budget resolution.
We need to be clear that it would be a major legislative
undertaking to achieve $5.25 billion in ten-year savings in our
programs. Rest assured that we will do what needs to be done to
find the savings required by any new budget reconciliation. But
doing so will require a great deal of effort if we are to
preserve the essential elements of efficient programs that
provide important benefits to many people.
If next year we are given reconciliation instructions to
find program savings, we will look at these options as well as
others. We appreciate very much the Budget Committee's
leadership in keeping issues of waste, fraud, and abuse on the
front burner. Finding solutions to these problems requires
constant vigilance and we are glad to have your support as we
continue our efforts. Mr. Chairman, we look forward to
continuing the excellent relationship that we have with you and
that exists between our committees.
Sincerely,
Bob Goodlatte
Chairman.
Charles W. Stenholm,
Ranking Minority Member.
Committee on Education, and the Workforce,
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC, September 2, 2003.
Hon. Jim Nussle,
Chairman, Committee on the Budget,
Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Nussle: In reponse to your July 1, 2003
letter, and as required in the FY 2004 Budget Resolution
Conference Report (House Report 108-71), enclosed please find
the submission for the Committee on Education and the
Workforce. Also enclosed is a submission from Representative
George Miller regarding the Minority Views.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me
at your convenience.
Sincerely,
John A. Boehner,
Chairman.
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE FISCAL YEAR 2004 BUDGET
RESOLUTION
The Committee on Education and the Workforce applauds the
efforts of the Committee on the Budget to focus Congressional
attention on waste, fraud, and abuse in federal programs.
In response to the FY 2004 Budget Resolution Conference
Report (108-71), the Committee on Education and the Workforce
finds that in the area of death and disability student loan
claims, professional judgment, and fraudulent activities at the
Department of Education, significant corrective action has
already been taken. However, the Committee identifies the
following potential means of reducing waste, fraud, and abuse
in both discretionary and mandatory spending programs under its
jurisdiction:
Request that the Committee on Ways and Means
examine an IRS data match legislative proposal designed
to reduce the Pell Grant shortfall;
Reform or repeal the Davis-Bacon Act to
reduce artificially-inflated federal construction costs
by as much as 38 percent; and
Reform or repeal the Service Contract Act to
permit employers in affected industries to pay
employees a market-based wage.
Significant Corrective Action Findings
Death and Disability Student Loan Claims
According to Section 301(a)(1) of the FY 04 Budget
Resolution Conference Report, ``the Inspector General of the
Department of Education has found that nearly 23 percent of
recipients whose loans where discharged due to disability
claims were gainfully employed.''
However, the Department of Education has already
investigated this allegation and the Chief Operating Officer of
the Department's Performance Based Organization found that
there were far fewer improper claims paid than first reported
by the Inspector General's (IG) Office. In its FY 2001
Performance Plan, the Department's Office of Student Financial
Assistance (SFA) stated ``we continue to work to determine the
true scope of fraud in death and disability claims'' and
``these efforts have helped us determine that false death and
disability claims aren't nearly as widespread as originally
thought.''
Further, in the summer of 2000, a negotiated rulemaking
session took place with the higher education community to amend
the regulations governing death and disability discharges.
These new regulations are far more onerous on the borrower,
provide for a ``conditional'' discharge of the loan debt for up
to three years, necessitate more information and certification
of the borrower's condition, and require the loan to be
assigned to the Secretary.
Due to the complexity of this change in policy, the new
regulations did not take effect until July 1, 2002. At this
time, it is too early to determine the effect they have had on
reducing fraudulent death and disability claims. However, the
concern expressed by the IG in its report has been addressed.
Professional Judgment
The Committee on the Budget has also indicated publicly
that money can be saved in higher education programs by
regulating what is known as ``professional judgment.''
Professional judgment is authority given to financial aid
professionals which allows them to address special
circumstances of students on a case-by-case basis. There are no
regulations pertaining to this authority for obvious reasons,
however, there are specific parameters within which the
financial aid professional must work. For instance, in most
cases there needs to be third party written documentation
supporting the student's special circumstance or a specific
student statement with evidence of the circumstance, and a
written statement by the financial aid professional as to his
determination.
Examples of special or unusual circumstances include recent
unemployment of a parent, high medical expenses not covered by
insurance, domestic violence whereby the student no longer
resides at home, or cases where a parent cannot be located.
Most financial aid professionals use this authority sparingly.
In fact, during the 107th Congress, a specific reference to
professional judgment was included in the HEROES bill (P.L.
107-122) to encourage financial aid officers to utilize the
authority in specific circumstances. The Committee on Education
and the Workforce believes that regulating something that is
designed to deal with extraordinary exceptions would be
counterproductive.
Fraudulent Activities at the Department of Education
Over the past five years, the Committee on Education and
the Workforce has held a series of eight hearings examining the
financial management practices and fraudulent activities at the
Department of Education:
The Financial Management Practices of the
Department of Education (12/6/99);
Financial Management at the Department of
Education (3/1/00);
Financial Management Issues at the
Department of Education (9/19/00);
Waste, Fraud & Program Implementation at the
U.S. Department of Education (10/25/00);
Department of Education Financial Management
(4/3/01);
Status of Financial Management at the U.S.
Department of Education (7/24/01);
Status of Financial Management at the U.S.
Department of Education (4/10/02); and
The Recent Improvements of Financial
Management Practices at the U.S. Department of
Education (3/10/03).
As a result of this intense Congressional oversight and
Secretary Paige's Management Improvement Team, the Department
of Education--for only the second time in its 23-year history--
received a ``clean financial audit'' from an independent
accounting firm earlier this year.
In addition, the Department of Education's Office of
Inspector General and the Department of Justice have made
significant strides to recover some of the taxpayer funds that
were lost due to prior waste, fraud, and abuse under the
previous Administration. For example:
Four people have been arrested and indicted on
federal charges for stealing $1.9 million in Impact Aid funds
that should have gone to schools in South Dakota and instead
were spent on real estate and luxury cars.
Nineteen people have either pled guilty to federal
charges or were convicted after a federal trial for their
involvement in a massive theft ring at the department. On
February 6, 2003, Verizon Federal Systems (successor to Bell
Atlantic) entered into a $2 million civil settlement with the
Department of Education and the Department of Justice to settle
federal claims of false overtime charges and improper
electronic equipment purchases by their employees in conspiracy
with Department of Education employees.
Two Department employees and three employees of
vendors for the Department have pled guilty to charges stemming
from the ongoing investigation of fraudulent purchase card use.
These individuals admitted to conspiring to use government
credit cards to purchase household furniture for the Department
employees' personal use.
The Committee on Education and the Workforce commends the
Bush Administration and Secretary Paige for changing the
internal culture at the Department of Education and for
bringing those individuals who abused taxpayer dollars to
justice.
Identification of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
Examine an IRS Data Match Legislative Proposal Designed To Reduce the
Pell Grant Shortfall
The Committee on Education and the Workforce is committed
to protecting student aid from abuse by improving management
controls for programs under its jurisdiction. The federal Pell
Grant Program, which provides undergraduate students from low-
income families with up to $4,050 this year to help pay for
college and other post-secondary education, is an example of
one such program.
Recently, the Department of Education's Inspector General
testified before the House Committee on the Budget that $300 to
$400 million in Pell Grant aid was erroneously awarded because
some applicants misreported their income levels on their
federal student aid applications. The Wall Street Journal
pointed out in their July 22nd ``Waste Not, Deficit Not''
editorial that according to Inspector General John Higgins this
estimate was ``conservative.''
The Bush Administration has proposed an Internal Revenue
Service data match of information submitted by Pell applicants
and believes that this will reduce over awards and under awards
of Pell Grant funds. If enacted, the proposed match between the
Department of Education and the IRS has the potential to free
up as much as $340 million to reduce the currentPell Grant
shortfall and strengthen the Pell Grant program for needy students
striving for a college education.
While the Higher Education Act currently provides
authorization for such a data match to take place, additional
legislative action on the part of the Committee on Ways and
Means is necessary to implement a less burdensome and more
streamlined process. The Committee on Education on the
Workforce has asked the Committee on Ways and Means to examine
this proposal to determine its potential effectiveness--
recognizing that any savings realized from the data match will
be used to reduce the current Pell Grant shortfall.
Repeal or Reform the Davis-Bacon Act
As a means of reducing waste, fraud, and abuse in federal
programs, the Committee on Education and the Workforce suggests
consideration of the repeal or reform of the costly and
outdated Davis-Bacon Act. Repeal or reform of Davis-Bacon would
improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of federal
contracting, and address systemic flaws contained in the
statute that have led to documented fraud and abuse.
In general, the Davis-Bacon Act requires that employers on
federally funded construction projects valued in excess of
$2,000 pay their workers no less than the ``prevailing wage
rate'' as determined by the Department of Labor (DOL). Enacted
in 1931, the law was drafted to apply to contracts for
construction to which the federal government was a contracting
party. In the 70+ years since its enactment, however, the
application of Davis-Bacon has been interpreted and
legislatively expanded to encompass a far wider range of
federal programs than the original ``federal construction''
model for which it was intended. For example, in recent years,
it has been legislatively applied to programs using
increasingly indirect and/or attenuated federal financing.
The application of Davis-Bacon has been demonstrated to
inflate construction costs on average from five to fifteen
percent, and in some instances up to almost 40 percent (38
percent in rural areas, according to some studies). Moreover,
the determination of ``prevailing wages'' by the Department of
Labor has been documented to be rife with abuse. A January 1999
General Accounting Office report found errors in 70 percent of
the wage forms used by DOL to calculate prevailing wages, and
DOL's own Inspector General concluded in 1997 that two-thirds
of the wage surveys provided to the Department for use in
calculating prevailing wage rates were inaccurate.
Worse, some believe the Davis-Bacon Act encourages
discrimination against some of America's most vulnerable
workers. ``The effect of the Davis-Bacon Act is that of
discriminating against contractor employment of non-union and
lower skilled workers,'' wrote Dr. Walter E. Williams, a noted
columnist and professor at George Mason University, earlier
this year. ``Thus, it has a racially discriminatory effect,
since most blacks are in the non-union sector of the
construction industry. Even black contractors wanting to hire a
lower skilled black worker can't do so.'' (Walter E. Williams,
``Congress'' Insidious Discrimination,'' Augusta Chronicle,
March 14, 2003)
An increase in the $2,000 threshold for Davis-Bacon
projects (last revised in 1935) would also result in
significant cost savings to the federal government. In the
Congressional Budget Office's Budget Options 2003, it is noted
that simply raising the threshold for Davis-Bacon covered
contracts from $2,000 to $1 million could save the government
$50 million in FY 2004. Over a four year period (2004-2008) CBO
estimates a savings of $750 million.
At a minimum, the Committee on Education and the Workforce
endorses limiting the Davis-Bacon Act to the historic and
traditional model for which it was enacted and intended, and
opposes any expansion of these outdated requirements for new
federal programs or non-traditional means of federal financing.
Repeal or Limit the Service Contract Act to Ensure Payment of Market-
Based Wages
As a further means of reducing waste, fraud, and abuse in
federal programs, the Committee on Education and the Workforce
also endorses the repeal or limitation of the costly and
outdated Service Contract Act, originally enacted in 1965 to
compliment Davis-Bacon. Repeal or limitation of the Service
Contract Act would improve the efficiency and cost-
effectiveness of federal contracting and permit employers to
pay employees a market-based wage, rather than a wage
determined artificially by the federal government using data
that is frequently outdated and/or of questionable value.
The Service Contract Act has been problematic and
unnecessarily costly for virtually everyone involved with it--
private sector workers, private sector employers, American
consumers, and the federal government itself. Take
environmental enthusiasts, for example. The National Forest
Recreation Association (NFRA) in 1999 tried to persuade
Congress to change the Service Contract Act because it was
applied--to the surprise of many--to wages paid to employees
working on privately operated campgrounds in the nation's
national forests, resulting in fees nearly doubling for
Americans visiting those popular environmental attractions.
According to the Modesto Bee, NFRA argued the Service Contract
Act was meant to apply to ``carpenters and electricians
providing services to the government, not campground hosts
serving the public,'' (Ron DeLacy, ``Wage Ruling Assailed;
Angry Campers Protest Changes,'' Modesto Bee, February 8,
1999). According to an Associated Press account, ``Forest
Service officials had assumed the campground workers were
exempt from the McNamara-O'Hara Act. They viewed their
contracts with concessionaires as leases, which don't come
under the act's jurisdiction. When told otherwise, Forest
Service officials tried to get an exemption last year. The
Labor Department already exempts concession contracts for
lodging at national parks, they said, arguing that campgrounds
should be considered lodging, too.'' (John Hughes, ``Wage
Increase for Campground Workers Could Boost Fees in Federal
Forests,'' Associated Press, January 18, 1999)
At a March 10,1999 hearing of the House Armed Services
Committee, the U.S. Navy cited the Service Contract Act not
only as an unnecessary cost-driver, but also as an obstacle to
its efforts to provide quality childcare for military families.
Rear Admiral James B. Hinkle, U.S. Navy Assistant Commander,
Navy Personnel Command, Personal Readiness & Community Support,
testified on the topic before the House Armed Service
Committee's Special Oversight Panel on Morale, Welfare, and
Recreation. He discussed the Navy's experience with a
demonstration project designed to explore the possibilities of
contracting with commercial child care centers to provide care
for the children of military personnel, rather than relying
exclusively on military-operated centers, which is the most
expensive option. The project was successful in some places but
not in others, Admiral Hinkle noted, in part because of
unnecessary cost increases resulting from the Service Contract
Act. ``The Service Contract Act increases the cost to the
government, which often makes the cost of the program
uneconomical as compared to other alternatives.'' (Federal News
Service Transcripts, March 10, 1999)
Like Davis-Bacon, the Service Contract Act has been
identified by previous Congresses as a source of waste that is
ripe for reform or repeal. For example, the chairman's mark for
the FY 2000 Budget Resolution proposed in March 1999 by Senate
Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) proposed
repealing both Davis-Bacon and the Service Contract Act for a
net $1 billion in savings. (National Journal's CongressDaily,
``Domenici Plan Includes Reserve Fund, 10-Yr. Tax Cut,'' March
17, 1999)
The Congressional Budget Office's Budget Options 2001
estimated that $9.8 billion could be saved in Fiscal Years
2002-2011 by repealing the Service Contract Act. The document
concludes that, ``Federal procurement costs would fall because
repealing the Service Contract Act would promote greater
competition among bidders, although the precise magnitude of
the savings is difficult to estimate.'' At a minimum, a review
of the Davis-Bacon and Service Contract Act impact on federal
procurement demonstrates the need for significant reform if not
outright repeal.
Minority Views
Majority's Recommendation to Slash Worker Benefits to Support Tax Cuts
for the Wealthy
We strongly disagree with the recommendation of our
Republican colleagues that the Congress should repeal or
otherwise weaken the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract
Act. The Republicans are proposing is to slash the wages and
living conditions of working Americans in order to pay for
their irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthy.
The Republican proposal would undercut the financial
security of millions of middle income families in order to
address the largest in history, one they have created through
irresponsible tax policy. In 2001, the Congressional Budget
Office (CBO) estimated that the Federal Government would have a
unified surplus of $359 billion in 2003. Instead, after two-
and-a-half years of the Bush Administration, CBO forecasts that
the Federal Government will have a deficit of $401 billion for
2003, and even higher for 2004. Under the policies of the Bush
Administration, the federal budget has deteriorated by $760
billion dollars in 2003 alone. The long-term picture is even
worse. The cumulative budget over 2002-2011, which was a
surplus of $5.6 trillion when President Bush took office, has
deteriorated to a $3.3 trillion deficit--a swing of $9 trillion
to the worse.
While President Bush's budget policies have sent the
deficit soaring out of control, they have yet to produce any
benefit, trickle down or otherwise, for most Americans. Since
President Bush took office, we have lost 3.2 million private
sector jobs, by far the worst jobs record of any Administration
since the Great Depression. Long-term unemployment has tripled.
Real GDP growth has been the lowest for any Administration
since World War II. Real business investment has fallen by 10.4
percent under the Bush Administration, and the trade deficit
has increased by almost $100 billion. Further undermining the
wages and living conditions of American citizens as the
Republican majority recommends, by repealing prevailing wage
protections, compounds these job and income problems.
Prevailing wage laws such as the Davis-Bacon Act and the
Service Contract Act ensure that the government procurement
process does not undermine the wages and living conditions of
taxpayers. Generally, the government purchases on a low-bid
basis--if contractor A agrees to perform the work for less than
anyone else, then contractor A is awarded to the contract to do
the work. Particularly in the construction industry and many
segments of the service sector, where labor costs are often the
single largest cost that can be manipulated in the absence of a
prevailing wage statute, the low bidder will ultimately be
determined on the basis of who pays the lowest wage. For
example, prior the enactment of the Service Contract Act in
1965, star carriers, private truckers and trucking companies
who contract to carry mail for the U.S. Postal Service, were
typically paying their truck drivers less than the minimum
wage. Further, employees had no means of bettering their
condition because any increase in wages typically resulted in
the loss of the contract to a different contractor able and
willing to pay the former lower wage. In other words, without
prevailing wage protection, the government procurement process
acts to undermine wages and living conditions by encouraging
contractors to compete for government contracts on the basis of
who will pay their employees the least.
By recommending the repeal of the Davis-Bacon Act and the
Service Contract Act, Republicans are recommending that the
government undermine the wages of its citizens. They claim that
undermining wages will save the government money. It will not.
By establishing a wage floor at locally prevailing wages rates,
the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act ensure that
government contracts are competed for on the basis of who can
most efficiently fulfill the contract rather than who can pay
the least. Prevailing wage laws ensure that the government has
access to reputable contractors who employ skilled and trained
workers. They ensure that the government receives quality for
its dollars. Repealing the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service
Contract Act will cost the government money by undermining the
quality of the work performed for the government. It will also
cost the government money by undermining the wages and living
conditions of its citizens, trapping workers in dead end jobs
and increasing reliance upon public resources while
simultaneously undermining the ability to pay for those
resources.
We note that the Republican leadership has refused to bring
vital public works bills to floor because the bills have
included prevailing wage requirements and the Republicans have
lacked the votes to remove or eliminate those requirements. The
Republican leadership has prohibited House consideration of the
Water Quality Financing Act, the Railroad Track Modernization
Act, and the Rail Infrastructure Development and Expansion Act
for the 21st Century because Davis-Bacon Act requirements would
apply to the projects. It is estimated that the highway and
water project construction jobs that have been put on hold by
the Republican leadership would create as many as three million
jobs. Instead, we are failing to meet vital public needs and
exacerbating unemployment in a faltering economy.
Administration's Failure to Address Growing Pension Crisis: PBGC
Deficit of $3.7 Billion Puts Taxpayers at Risk
Despite repeated requests by the Minority for the Bush
Administration to address a $300 billion shortfall in private
pension plans, and a $3.7 billion PBGC deficit, no action has
been taken to address this urgent problem. In fact, the
Administration is unable to demonstrate how its proposal to
scrap the 30-year Treasury Bond Rate will improve pension plan
security. The failure of the Administration and the Republican
Congress to act poses a significant risk to taxpayers, who may
be required to paybillions of dollars to bail out the PBGC
which currently has its largest deficit in its 29-year history. Over
the past two years, the PBGC has paid out 18 times the amounts in
benefits that it paid in the period 1993 to 2000. The GAO recently put
the PBGC on its watch list because of its precarious financial
position. The Administration must stop its dithering on pension
security, and provide Congress with information necessary to make
urgently needed pension reforms.
Death and Disability Student Loan Claims
Any efforts to eliminate fraud and abuse in death and
disability student loan claims must not impede students with
legitimate claims from receiving fair and timely consideration.
In addition, the definition of `disability' used by the
Department of Education should be updated to provide a uniform
federal definition and threshold, to better coordinate and
expedite legitimate discharge of student loans.
Pell Grant Shortfall
The Committee on Education must fully investigate the
Department of Education's inability to resolve the chronic Pell
Grant shortfall. The Department has repeatedly failed to make
accurate assumptions as to how many eligible students will
apply for Pell Grants when writing its annual budget. The
Department's failure to make accurate assumptions has
undermined efforts to fully fund the Pell Grant program and to
ensure that all low and middle-income students have access to a
college education. The Administration has also intentionally
failed to budget sufficient funds to address the shortfall,
thus undermining appropriations necessary for even modest Pell
increases. The Department must revise its outdated methods to
ensure accurate assumptions regarding participation levels in
the Pell Grant program.
Student Loan Subsidies
As instructed by the Committee on Budget, in its FY 2004
Budget Resolution Conference Report, the Committee on Education
and the Workforce finds that two of the most promising areas to
reduce wasteful spending are to eliminate lender windfall
profits and to promote competition within the student loan
programs.
Under current law, student lenders are not required to
rebate excess federal subsidies to the government when they
earn more than a fair market return on student loans. According
to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) eliminating these
lender windfall profits would save an estimated $4.5 billion
between 2004-2008.
In addition, the Department of Education must pursue
opportunities to increase competition among the loan programs,
such as eliminating the Single Lender Rule, as a means to
eliminate wasteful spending. One such area of competition where
the Department has failed to make progress is on the issue of
how to appropriately set lender yields, or competitive
mechanisms, on federal student loans. The Department must move
forward on competitive market mechanisms in order to ensure
both private sector participation and government savings.
George Miller,
Senior Democratic Member.
House of Representatives,
Committee on Energy and Commerce,
Washington, DC, September 2, 2003.
Hon. Jim Nussle,
Chairman, Committee on the Budget, House of Representatives, Cannon
House Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Nussle: Pursuant to section 301(b) of the FY
2004 Budget Resolution, this letter details findings that
identify changes in law within the Committee on Energy and
Commerce's jurisdiction that would achieve the level of savings
through the elimination of waste, fraud, and abuse that you
specified in the Congressional Record on May 21, 2003. As is
the custom in our Committee, our minority may choose to submit
their own findings under separate cover.
Congress should strongly consider acting on some of these
ideas within the next year. With entitlement spending growing
at a rapid rate, it is critical to identify new ways to limit
spending. At the same time, we must continue to strengthen and
preserve the core mission of our safety net programs. These
recommendations reflect this delicate balance and will
contribute to our joint efforts to balance the Federal budget
in future years.
MEDICAID FINANCING
Medicaid pays for the costs of providing health care
coverage to 44 million low-income Americans. States and the
Federal government fund the program jointly, with the Federal
share determined by the use of the FMAP (Federal Medical
Assistance Percentage) formula, which is based upon state per
capita income. The Federal liability for Medicaid program
expenditures is presently open-ended, because the Federal
government is obligated to pay a set percentage of all state
Medicaid expenditures covered under each state's Medicaid plan.
As states' costs rise, the Federal government's costs increased
as well.
Unfortunately, the current mechanism for funding Medicaid
encourages states to aggressively define their Medicaid
spending as creatively as possible in order to qualify for
Federal matching funds. In addition, the current system has
inappropriately led many states to adopt various schemes to
obtain additional federal funds. These strategies--known
generally as ``Medicaid maximization''--have led to the well-
documented abuses associated with Upper Payment Limits, Inter-
Governmental Transfers, and Disproportionate Share Hospital
payments.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ HHS, Office of Inspector General, A-03-00216, September, 2001
(Upper Payment Limits); HHS Office of Inspector General, A-06-01-00069,
December 2001 (Disproportionate Share Hospital payments); U.S. General
Accounting Office, Medicaid: State Financing Schemes Again Drive Up
Federal Payments. GAO/T-HEHS-00-193. September 6, 2000.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Each of the financing schemes involves states responding to
the perverse incentives currently reflected in how the Federal
government finances Medicaid. So long as the Federal government
continues to provide an open-ended commitment to match all
state expenditures, states will have strong financial
incentives to maximize the amount of Federal dollars that can
be drawn-down as matching payments. In addition, states
engaging in these practices will always be able to provide
persuasive arguments for why the additional Federal dollars are
necessary to support a wide variety of popular expenditures to
provide health care for particularly vulnerable Medicaid
beneficiaries. These justifications have historically made it
very difficult for Congress to reduce or eliminate abusive
financing schemes, despite the large potential savings that
could result from such changes.\2\ Ironically, many of these
financing schemes have not even resulted in our precious
Federal health care dollars being utilized for patient care.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ For example, the CBO has estimated that requiring all states to
be in full compliance with the January 2001 UPL regulations by 2004
(rather than the extended deadlines provided under the Benefits
Improvement and Protection Act of 2000) would reduce federal outlays by
almost $2.8 billion in 2004 and $7.3 billion over five years.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recommendation No. 1: The current Medicaid reimbursement
methodology should be altered to eliminate the current perverse
incentives that encourage states to engage in Medicaid
maximization schemes. Adopting capped, state-specific
allotments for optional populations and services, as recently
discussed by a National Governor's Association task force,
would significantly reduce the incentives for states to
maintain or prospectively implement such financing schemes.
Such an approach would also give states incentives to manage
their Medicaid programs more cost-effectively.
MEDICAID ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS
Before 1996, common costs for administering food stamps,
Medicaid, and welfare were often charged to the AFDC program--
the predecessor of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(``TANF'') grants. These common costs were subsequently
included in the calculation of each state's TANF grant when
Congress passed welfare reform in 1996. Unfortunately, states
that had previously charged their Medicaid program's share of
common administrative costs to AFDC now receive Federal
Medicaid reimbursements for these same expenses. This double
payment should be eliminated.
Recommendation No. 2: Reduce federal reimbursement for
Medicaid administrative costs to reflect the portion of these
costs that are already included in the TANF block grant that a
state receives.
MEDICAID DRUG REIMBURSEMENTS
Many states currently reimburse Medicaid providers for the
costs of covered outpatient drugs based upon manufacturer
reported prices. These prices, known as either Average
Wholesale Price (``AWP'') or Wholesale Acquisition Cost
(``WAC'') have been reported to far exceed the acquisition
prices paid by many providers.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ HHS Office of Inspector General, Medicaid Pharmacy: Actual
Acquisition Cost of Brand Name Prescription Drug Products, A-06-00-
00023, August 2001.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Energy and Commerce Committee has already conducted an
extensive investigation into how the manipulation of AWPs
currently costs the Medicare program hundreds of millions of
dollars annually due to inflated reimbursements. This
investigation also revealed that certain drug manufacturers
have deliberately inflated their AWPs above their sale prices,
in order to create an inducement for providers to use their
products. Similar incentives exist in the Medicaid program for
certain types of drugs, and the Committee is currently
conducting an extensive investigation to assess the extent to
which the inflation of AWPs unnecessarily increases Medicaid
drug reimbursements. Reports prepared by the Department of
Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General (OIG)
have estimated that the inflation of AWPs for brand-name drugs
resulted in Medicaid overpayments in excess of $1 billion per
year and $470 million per year for generic drugs.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recommendation No. 3: Require that states reimburse
providers for Medicaid-covered outpatient drugs at prices that
better reflect their acquisition costs.
State Medicaid programs are currently required to collect
and submit information regarding the utilization of covered
outpatient drugs. This data is then used to calculate the
amounts that drug manufacturers must pay in the form of
Medicaid rebates. A recent letter from the Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services' (``CMS'') Director of the Center for
Medicaid and State Operations highlighted that many states do
not currently collect the data necessary to obtain rebates on
drugs administered in physician office settings. The letter
encouraged states to collect and submit this data, and pointed
out that their failure to do so has in the past led to millions
of dollars in potential rebates going uncollected. Congress
should step in to fix this problem.
Recommendation No. 4: Require that states collect and
submit the necessary information that will enable the Medicaid
program to collect the correct rebates for these drugs.
MEDICARE OVERPAYMENTS
The Energy and Commerce Committee included several
provisions that will reduce excessive payments to Medicare
providers in H.R. 1, the Medicare Prescription Drug and
Modernization Act of 2003. As the House-Senate conference on
H.R. 1 proceeds, it is critical that we continue to modernize
the Medicare Program and make it more efficient. Currently,
Medicare comprises approximately 12% of all Federal spending--a
number expected to more than double in the next twenty-five
years. Absent changes to Medicare, the financial burdens on
future taxpayers and beneficiaries will be overwhelming. That
is why sections 302 and 303 of H.R. 1 are essential in clamping
down on some of the unwarranted spending in two areas of the
traditional fee-for-service program: (1) payments for drugs
administered within physician office settings and (2)
reimbursements for certain types of durable medical equipment.
Working in collaboration with the Ways and Means Committee,
our Committee developed policies earlier this year designed to
reduce the level of inappropriate payments in the
aforementioned areas and to create a more competitive market-
oriented structure that efficiently expends health care
resources. Enactment of sections 301 and 302 alone will,
according to the Congressional Budget Office, save the Medicare
Program over $22 billion over the next ten years. Additionally,
the reduction in these payments will significantly reduce
beneficiaries' overpayments for coinsurance. For drugs
administered in the physician office setting, the Inspector
General has estimated that Medicare beneficiaries are
overpaying over $175 million in coinsurance annually. The AWP
policy in H.R. 1 will reduce those overpayments and create a
more rational payment policy for beneficiaries, providers, and
taxpayers.
With respect to durable medical equipment, beneficiaries
and taxpayers will also save billions of dollars if Congress
moves toward a competitive acquisition system. The results of
two recent competitive bidding demonstration projects in Polk
County, Florida and San Antonio, Texas show how promising this
new policy could be if implemented in many parts of the
country. Preliminary reports indicate that savings of between
17-20% could be realized for certain products. Moreover,
because our policy provides the Secretary with the flexibility
to exempt products for which competitive bidding may be
inappropriate or not cost-effective, this policy will be
precisely targeted to the products for which we are currently
overpaying. Rather than randomly freezing a fee schedule to
reduce rates, reimbursement prices will be dictated by market
conditions within a geographic area--not by a governmental
price fixer.
Recommendation No. 5: Enact sections 302 and 303 of H.R. 1
in order to begin immediately reducing the overpayments for
drugs administered within physician office settings and
lowering the excessive prices paid for durable medical
equipment.
I share your strong interest in reducing waste, fraud, and
abuse government-wide. The previously referenced
recommendations are by no means an exhaustive list of all of
the areas within the Energy and Commerce Committee's
jurisdiction that we will continue to examine, nor are they
exhaustive of matters within just the Medicaid and Medicare
programs. We look forward to working with you in coming budget
resolutions to addressing these issues.
Please contact me or have your staff contact Patrick
Morrisey or Chuck Clapton if you would like to discuss the
matters contained in this letter in more detail.
Sincerely,
W.J. ``Bill'' Tauzin,
Chairman.
House of Representatives,
Committee on Financial Services,
Washington, DC, July 31, 2003.
Hon. Jim Nussle,
Chairman, Committee on the Budget,
Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Jim: Pursuant to section 301 of the Conference Report
to Accompany the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal
Year 2004, and by direction of the Committee on Financial
Services, I transmit herewith a committee print entitled
``Changes in Law to Eliminate Waste, Fraud, and Abuse''
together with Dissenting Views. The committee print was
approved by the Committee on July 24, 2003 by a voice vote, a
quorum being present. An electronic copy is also included.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to
contact me.
Sincerely,
Michael G. Oxley,
Chairman.
Enclosures.
CHANGES IN LAW TO ELIMINATE WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE
Pursuant to section 301 of the Conference Report to
Accompany the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal
Year 2004 (H. Con. Res. 95; H. Rept. 108-71), the Committee on
Financial Services is transmitting herewith its findings on
means of eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in spending
programs under the Committee's jurisdiction.
Section 301 of the resolution requires committees to
``submit findings that identify changes in law within their
jurisdictions that would achieve the specified level of savings
through the elimination of waste, fraud, and abuse'' in
mandatory programs. Along with all Committee chairmen, the
Chairman of the full Committee announced his intention to meet
the goals of section 301 with respect to all programs under the
Committee's jurisdiction, not just mandatory programs.
Unliquidated Obligations in Housing Programs
On June 25, 2003, the Subcommittee on Oversight and
Investigations held a hearing entitled, ``Saving Taxpayer Money
Through Sound Financial Management.'' The focus of his hearing
was to identify current and quantifiable savings in
appropriated funds under the Committee's jurisdiction which
could be easily recaptured to meet the goals of the budget
resolution. Upon a review ofthe pertinent agencies, the
Committee concluded that savings can be most readily identified in
funds labeled as ``unliquidated obligations.'' Unliquidated obligations
are funds that are appropriated and obligated for a function but, for a
variety of reasons, never actually disbursed. By their nature, grant
and subsidy programs and long-term contracts maintain a high level of
unliquidated obligations at any given time. Through vigilant oversight
of the status of individual grants, subsidies, and contracts, senior
agency managers can recapture unliquidated obligations and either apply
them for other purposes and reduce future appropriations, or deobligate
them. The funds can be recaptured without any changes to program
eligibility or any cuts to program functions or personnel.
Based on these criteria, the programs under the Committee's
jurisdiction which are most likely to have high levels of
unliquidated obligaitons are the Section 8 and Section 236
rental assistance programs at HUD and the rural rental
assistance program at the Rural Housing Service (RHS) of the
Department of Agriculture. Committee staff, senior HUD and RHSD
officials, the Inspectors General of HUD and the Agriculture
Department, and the GAO are collaborating to determine the
amount of unliquidated obligations that could meet the goals in
the budget resolution without changes to the programs.
Department of Housing and Urban Development
At the hearing, the Chief Financial Officer of the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) testified on
the level of unliquidated obligations at HUD. The Chief
Financial Officer announced that for FY 2004 alone, over $1.7
billion in previously appropriated and obligated funds most
likely will not be used for the purposes appropriated. It has
proposed to use these funds to lower (offset) what would have
been the total cost of the HUD appropriations request in FY
2004 by this amount.
As of the end of May this year, HUD held $108 billion
dollars in unexpended appropriated funds, more than 3 times its
requested appropriation for FY 2004. Of these balances, $34
billion has yet to be awarded and obligated by HUD, primarily
because Congress enacted the FY 2003 Appropriations Act in
February of 2003.
The Chief Financial Officer also discussed the detailed
measures that her office has undertaken to reduce unliquidated
obligations and outstanding balances in other areas. For
instance, since December 2001, total funds not committed to
specific public housing authority modernization projects have
fallen from $3.4 billion to $700 million as of March 31, 2003,
meaning that the funds have been committed and spent more
quickly.
With respect to the long-term outlook (FY 2004-2013), HUD
currently has an additional $30 billion in funds that are owed
(mainly to landlords and multi-family project owners) that
provide subsidized housing to millions of families across the
country. It is not clear to what extent some of these funds
will not be needed in the future. Originally, Congress
appropriated the full cost of these rental subsidy programs
based on a certain set of economic assumptions, such as
inflation and wages of tenants. These may or may not bear out
over the many years left on the contracts HUD has with the
owners. Hence decisions on the amount of excess that will be
available have to be made on a year-by-year basis and can not
be presumed ahead of time.
The Committee also requested and received a statement for
the record from the Inspector General of HUD on his office's
initiatives to detect and prevent wasted, fraud, and abuse. The
Inspector General stated that HUD is not recapturing
unliquidated obligations and undisbursed contract authority in
a timely manner.
Additionally, the Inspector General noted that HUD
identified significant errors in the billings and payments
processes, which also results in excess rental subsidy
payments. The GAO now lists rentals subsidy overpayments as one
of the Department's high risk areas. While the amount
attributable to fraud is unknown, the Department estimates
losses linked to improper housing assistance payments to exceed
one billion dollars annually. The OIG announced a new effort to
detect and prevent fraud in housing assistance programs.
Department of Agriculture
The Under Secretary for Rural Development at the Department
of Agriculture, a program also under the Committee's
jurisdiction, also testified at the hearing on the level of
unliquidated obligations in the Section 521 Rental Assistance
Program. The Section 521 Program currently helps 264,000
households to maintain their rental residence by providing a
subsidy to pay the difference between the basic rent for the
apartment and up to 30 percent of an eligible tenant's income.
The General Accounting Office is reviewing the Section 521
Program and has raised concerns about the unliquidated balances
on the 20-year contracts and 5-year contracts on which rental
assistance payments continue to be paid on units beyond the
original terms.
The Office of Rural Development determined that there is
$737,000,000 outstanding on active contract that were obligated
between 1978 and 1988. These funds are only available for the
current contracts or may be transferred to other units on
existing contracts. At the hearing, the Chairwoman of the
Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee announced that the
Committee has asked the GAO to review the contracts in question
and determined how much of the $737 million outstanding can be
deobligated through legal action or, if needed, legislation.
Conclusion
In its review of its programs, the Committee found that in
one of its largest categories of spending--housing assistance
programs--the agencies have significant unliquidated
obligations which, if deobligated or otherwise recaptured,
could result in significant savings without meaningful
reductions in program services. This ensures that both the
Department of Hous8ing and Urban Development and the Department
of Agriculture can continue to serve their customers while
assisting in efforts to reduce the deficit.
Committee Consideration
The Committee on Financial Services met in open session on
July 23, 2003 and considered a committee print entitled
``Changes in Law to Eliminate Waste, Fraud, and Abuse''. On
July 24, 2003, the Committee agreed to a motion by Mr. Oxley to
approve the Committee print and forward it to the Committee on
the Budget by a voice vote.
Committee Votes
A motion by Mr. Oxley to report the bill to the House with
a favorable recommendation was agreed to by a voice vote. The
following amendment was considered by a record vote. The names
of Members voting for and against follow:
An amendment by Mr. Meeks, no. 1, recommending
elimination of the public housing community service
requirement, was not agreed to by a record vote of 29
yeas and 30 nays.
RECORD VOTE NO. FC-10
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Representative Aye Nay Present Representative Aye Nay Present
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Oxley...................... ........ X ......... Mr. Frank (MA)... X ........ .........
Mr. Leach...................... ........ ........ ......... Mr. Kanjorski.... X ........ .........
Mr. Bereuter................... ........ ........ ......... Ms. Waters....... X ........ .........
Mr. Baker...................... ........ X ......... Mr. Sanders \1\.. X ........ .........
Mr. Bachus..................... ........ X ......... Mrs. Maloney..... X ........ .........
Mr. Castle..................... ........ X ......... Mr. Gutierrez.... X ........ .........
Mr. King....................... ........ ........ ......... Ms. Velazquez.... X ........ .........
Mr. Royce...................... ........ X ......... Mr. Watt......... X ........ .........
Mr. Lucas (OK)................. ........ X ......... Mr. Ackerman..... X ........ .........
Mr. Ney........................ ........ X ......... Ms. Hooley (OR).. X ........ .........
Mrs. Kelly..................... ........ X ......... Ms. Carson (IN).. X ........ .........
Mr. Paul....................... ........ ........ ......... Mr. Sherman...... X ........ .........
Mr. GIllmor.................... ........ X ......... Mr. Meeks (NY)... X ........ .........
Mr. Ryun (KS).................. ........ X ......... Ms. Lee.......... X ........ .........
Mr. LaTourette................. ........ X ......... Mr. Inslee....... X ........ .........
Mr. Manzullo................... ........ X ......... Mr. Moore........ X ........ .........
Mr. Jones (NC)................. ........ X ......... Mr. Gonzalez..... X ........ .........
Mr. Ose........................ ........ X ......... Mr. Capuano...... X ........ .........
Mrs. Biggert................... ........ ........ ......... Mr. Ford......... ........ ........ .........
Mr. Green (WI)................. ........ X ......... Mr. Hinojosa..... X ........ .........
Mr. Toomey..................... ........ X ......... Mr. Lucas (KY)... ........ ........ .........
Mr. Shays...................... ........ X ......... Mr. Crowley...... X ........ .........
Mr. Shadegg.................... ........ X ......... Mr. Clay......... ........ ........ .........
Mr. Fossella................... ........ ........ ......... Mr. Israel....... X ........ .........
Mr. Gary G. Miller (CA)........ ........ X ......... Mr. Ross......... X ........ .........
Ms. Hart....................... ........ ........ ......... Mrs. McCarthy X ........ .........
(NY).
Mrs. Capito.................... ........ X ......... Mr. Baca......... X ........ .........
Mr. Tiberi..................... ........ X ......... Mr. Matheson..... X ........ .........
Mr. Kennedy (MN)............... ........ X ......... Mr. Lynch........ ........ ........ .........
Mr. Feeney..................... ........ X ......... Mr. Miller (NC).. X ........ .........
Mr. Hensarling................. ........ X ......... Mr. Emanuel...... X ........ .........
Mr. Garrett (NJ)............... ........ X ......... Mr. Scott (GA)... X ........ .........
Mr. Murphy..................... ........ X ......... Mr. Davis (AL)... X ........ .........
Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite (FL)..... ........ X .........
Mr. Barrett (SC)............... ........ X .........
Ms. Harris..................... ........ X .........
Mr. Renzi...................... ........ X .........
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Mr. Sanders is an independent, but caucuses with the Democratic Caucus.
Dissenting Views
Section 301 of the FY 2004 Budget Resolution requires
committees to ``submit findings that identify changes in law
within their jurisdictions that would achieve the specified
level of savings through the elimination of waste, fraud and
abuse'' in ``mandatory programs.'' Report language indicates
that such submissions must ``reduce outlays by an amount to be
specified by the chairmen of the Budget Committees.''
The findings contained in this report fail in every respect
to meet the requirements of Section 301 of the Budget
Resolution. The ``unliquidated obligations'' that are the sole
focus of these findings do not represent ``waste, fraud, and
abuse.'' These obligations do not arise from ``mandatory
programs.'' The admonition contained in the findings that
agency managers recapture unliquidated obligations not needed
for programs or services would not, by definition, reduce
``outlays'' by even a single penny. And, the findings do not
identify any ``changes in law.''
WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE
Section 301 of the Budget Resolution requires submissions
providing for the elimination of ``waste, fraud, and abuse.''
The findings in this report conclude that ``savings can be most
readily identified in funds labeled as unliquidated
obligations.'' The report cites in particular the HUD Section 8
and 236 programs, and the Rural Housing Service (RHS) Section
521 program.
However, nowhere in either the written statement or oral
testimony of either HUD's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or the
RHS Undersecretary for Rural Development is there any showing
that these unliquidated obligations in any way result from or
lead to ``waste, fraud, and abuse.''
Both of these Bush Administration witnesses explained that
balances predominantly reflect funds that will be needed at a
future date to meet expected obligations. If appropriated funds
exceed expected obligations, they are routinely recaptured and
used to offset the cost of other programs or used for purposes
specified by Congress. The written statement of HUD's CFO
addresses the level of unexpended balances in HUD programs and
concludes that ``In the vast majority of cases, these
unexpended funds are either fully committed to long-term
projects and will be spending out normally for many years to
come, or are obligations from relatively recent appropriations
and could not reasonably be expected to have been expended at
this time.
On the issue of Section 8 balances, in response to the
question ``Would you describe that as fraud or abuse or
waste?'', the HUD CFO responded ``Absolutely not.''
MANDATORY PROGRAMS
The title of Section 301 of the Budget Resolution
specifically refers to waste, fraud, and abuse in 11 mandatory
programs.'' However, none of the programs cited in the hearing
by either HUD or RHS are mandatory programs. Section 8, Section
236, Section 521, and the other programs discussed in the
hearing are all discretionary programs. On this point, the
``findings'' are clearly non-responsive to the Budget
Resolution directive.
OUTLAY SAVINGS
As noted, Section 301 report language clearly specifies
that the findings must identify programmatic instances of
waste, fraud, and abuse which reduce ``outlays.'' Yet, the
recapture of unobligated balances which are not needed for
future obligations, as recommended by the findings, would not
achieve any outlay savings. This is because if the funds are
not expected to be spent, under OMB and CBO rules there are no
outlay savings from their rescission or recapture. The only
scoreable reduction would be in budget authority.
CHANGES IN LAW
Section 301 requires committees to submit findings that
identify ``changes in law'' to achieve the required savings.
The findings being submitted herein identify no changes in law,
only general admonitions to HUD and RHS to do a better job of
tracking unobligated balances, in anticipation of their
recapture. We are surprised that the majority thinks that the
Bush Administration needs to be reminded of this, but telling
HUD and the Agriculture Department to obey the law does not
qualify as a change in the law.
FUNDING CUTS FOR HOUSING PROGRAMS
This is the most serious defect in the majority report. The
findings in this report conclude that deobligation or recapture
of unliquidated balances ``could result in significant savings
without meaningful reductions in program services.'' We would
be pleased if that were the case. But, the reality is that the
substantial recapture of such balances in recent years has
contributed to the substantial funding cuts to housing
programs, which have marked the Republican record.
The FY 2004 VA-HUD appropriations bill recently adopted
includes recapture of over a billion dollars in unobligated
Section 8 budget authority. Yet, these funds did not shield HUD
programs from program cuts. We believe there are insufficient
funds in the FY '04 bill to fully fund Section 8 renewals,
which would adversely affect both recipients and
administrators. That bill also includes a devastating $524
million cut in the public housing HOPE VI revitalization
program.
Repeatedly, under Republican control, Congress has
rescinded unobligated Section 8 funds in supplemental spending
bills and diverted such funds for non-housing programs.
According to preliminary data provided by CBO, Congress
rescinded $6.85 billion in Section 8 budget authority in
supplemental spending bills from FY 1997 through FY 2002. The
overwhelming majority of these rescissions were used to fund
non-housing expenditures. These rescissions took place at a
time when the majority party argued there were not enough funds
in the budget for housing programs, and pushed through deep
cuts in affordable housing programs.
Therefore, we are concerned that the findings in this
report create the false impression that budget savings can be
easily effected in housing programs through a better job of
rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, and without any effect on
the families that rely on these programs. Cuts to programs such
as public housing, Section 8, and rural rental housing have
real consequences, denying critically needed rental assistance
to low-income families, seniors, and the disabled, and
permitting the unnecessary deterioration of our affordable
housing stock.
Barney Frank.
Paul E. Kanjorski.
Carolyn B. Maloney.
Luis V. Gutierrez.
Melvin L. Watt.
Julia Carson.
Brad Sherman.
Jay Inslee.
Charles A. Gonzalez.
Michael E. Capuano.
Harold E. Ford, Jr.
Ruben Hinojosa.
Joseph Crowley.
Wm. Lacy Clay.
Steven Israel.
Joe Baca.
Stephen F. Lynch.
Brad Miller.
Rahm Emanuel.
Artur Davis.
House of Representatives,
Committee on Government Reform,
Washington, DC, September 23, 2003.
Hon. Jim Nussle,
Chairman, Committee on the Budget,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Nussle: Pursuant to H. Con. Res. 95, the
Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2004, I
respectfully submit the following findings that identify
changes in law within the jurisdiction of the Committee on
Government Reform that would achieve at least the level of
savings specified by Chairman Nussle under the Resolution
through the elimination of waste, fraud, and mismanagement.
Sincerely,
Tom Davis,
Chairman.
FINDINGS ON WASTE, FRAUD, AND MISMANAGEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 301 OF
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 95
The Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year
2004, H. Con. Res. 95, (the Budget) requires House and Senate
authorizing committees to identify waste, fraud, and
mismanagement within their jurisdictions. The authorizing
committees are required to submit to their respective Budget
Committees findings as to the changes in law needed to
eliminate waste, fraud, and mismanagement.
The Budget provides that the Committees on the Budget
specify the dollar level of savings to be achieved through the
elimination of waste, fraud, and mismanagement by the
authorizing committees. Pursuant to that provision, the House
Committee on the Budget has directed the Committee on
Government Reform to find savings of $827 million in fiscal
year 2004, $4.496 billion over the 2004-08 period, and $9.998
billion over the 2004-13 period through the elimination of
waste, fraud, and mismanagement within its jurisdiction
(Congressional Record, May 21, 2003, H4512).
Under the Rules of the House, the Committee on Government
Reform's diverse jurisdiction includes the federal civil
service, the District of Columbia, and the Postal Service as
well as the overall, economy, efficiency, and management of
government operations, federal paperwork reduction, and the
relationship of the federal government to the states and
municipalities (Rule X, clause 1 of the Rules of the House of
Representatives). Consequently, government-wide cross-agency
reforms such as procurement, property management, information
sharing, performance assessment, and the federal grant-making
process are within the Committee's jurisdiction. During
consideration of the Budget in the House of Representatives,
Chairman Davis and Chairman Nussle engaged in a colloquy where
the Chairmen clarified that government-wide cross-agency
reforms within the Committee's jurisdiction were appropriate
targets for savings from waste, fraud, and mismanagement
(Congressional Record, March 20, 2003, H2196).
Of potential significance within the Committee's
jurisdiction, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
administers the retirement, health, and life insurance programs
for the federal civil service, which taken together, account
for more than $900 billion in projected mandatory spending
(spending not subject to annual appropriations) over the next
ten years according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Although these programs do not appear to experience high rates
of waste, fraud, and mismanagement, small percentage
improvements insuch large programs can result in significant
savings.\1\ Consequently, the Committee's first finding addresses these
programs by proposing an increase in the operating budget for the
Inspector General of the Office of Personnel Management.
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\1\ According to the testimony of the OPM Inspector General, the
erroneous payment rate in OPM's retirement programs was less than one-
half of one percent and the improper payment rate in OPM's health
insurance programs was less than one percent (Full Committee Hearing on
``Cutting Out Waste, Fraud, Mismanagement, Overlap and Duplication:
Exploring Ideas for Improving Federal Reorganization, Management and
Spending,'' July 16, 2003). The General Accounting Office has not
identified any of these OPM programs as being at high-risk for waste,
fraud, or mismanagement (Performance and Accountability Series, Major
Management Challenges and Program Risks: Office of Personnel
Management, January 2003, GAO-03-115).
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The Committee also proposes three additional reforms under
the Committee's broad jurisdiction over the management of
Government operations. These reforms would achieve billions of
dollars in savings to the federal government without reducing
the levels of benefits or services provided. The Committee is
proposing reforms to the management of federal real property,
increasing data sharing for the purpose of reducing improper
payments in benefit programs, and increasing competition and
accountability for federal grants.
Office of Personnel Management Programs
OPM administers three programs within the sole jurisdiction
of the Committee on Government Reform that have a significant
dollar level of spending commitments. The Committee held a
hearing on July 16, 2003 on ways to eliminate waste and
mismanagement in these programs. During fiscal year 2002, the
Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) had outlays
of $24 billion, the Retirement Programs had $48 billion, and
the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance Program had $2
billion. Fraudulent claims in FEHBP arise from improper
payments to carriers by health care providers and suppliers,
submitting false claims for services not rendered, billing for
unnecessary procedures, falsifying billing codes to obtain
higher rates of reimbursement, ordering illegal procedures for
patients, and defective pricing payments. Fraudulent payments
in the Retirement Programs include erroneous benefits paid
after the annuitant's death and computation errors. The OPM
Inspector General testified that the work his office is doing
to recover fraudulent payments in these programs results in
approximately $12 recovered for each dollar spent by his
office. In fiscal year 2002, the OPM IG recovered approximately
$116 million. The Committee proposes the doubling of the IG
budget from $12 million to $24 million, which should result in
an increased savings of $116 million annually.
The OPM IG has also initiated a program to utilize computer
technology to develop effective data warehouse and data mining
techniques to more effectively recover funds lost to waste,
fraud, and mismanagement by carriers in FEHBP. Implementation
of these applications should lead to a more comprehensive
claims auditing process, which should, in turn, result in
increased recovery of fraudulent overpayments from audits.
Federal Real Property Reform
Underutilized and excess property and deteriorating
facilities cost the federal government billions of dollars each
year. According to the General Services Administration, the
upkeep of unused real property costs an estimated $4 billion
annually. The Committee held a hearing on the savings that
could result from reform of the limitations on government
agencies' authority to revitalize or dispose of federal
property (``Wasted Space, Wasted Dollars: Reforming Federal
Real Property to Meet 21st Century Needs,'' June 5, 2003).
On July 17, 2003, the Committee approved H.R. 2548, the
Federal Property Asset Management Reform Act of 2003, which
gives federal agencies the authority to exchange or sell
unwanted property for better-suited property, sublease or
outlease underutilized property, and partner with the private
sector to redevelop or improve property. The legislation also
provides agencies incentives, such as allowing retention of
proceeds from dispositions and application to the agency's
capital asset needs, and offsetting direct and indirect costs
associated with property disposal.
The bill contains a variety of property management tools
that would improve property management and the condition of the
federal workplace. The legislation was developed in
consultation with the Administration and contains many of the
property management reforms included in the President's Freedom
to Manage Initiative. Specifically, the bill would:
Direct the Administrator of General Services
to develop asset management principles to guide federal
agencies and establish performance measures to
determine the effectiveness of federal property
management;
Require each agency to appoint a real
property officer to ensure that assets meet strategic
objectives, ensure the observance of asset management
principles, prepare asset management plans and
generally coordinate agency real property functions and
processes;
Authorize federal agencies to exchange or
transfer property with other federal agencies;
Authorize GSA, acting on behalf of
landholding agencies, to enter into agreements with
non-federal entities to exchange or sell property as a
means of acquiring replacement property or services
better suited for mission purposes;
Authorize GSA, acting on behalf of
landholding agencies, to sublease unexpired portions of
Government-leased property;
Authorize GSA, acting on behalf of
landholding agencies, to lease assets that must remain
in federal ownership, and partner with private sector
entities for the redevelopment or improvement of
selected federal holdings;
Require GSA to report to Congress on their
use of public-private partnerships valued at greater
than $700,000;
Authorize agencies to retain the proceeds
from the sale of surplus personal property, subject to
appropriations, to offset direct and indirect costs
incurred in the disposal of such property;
Authorize agencies to retain the proceeds
from real property transactions, subject to
appropriations, and allow such funds to be used for
meeting an agency's capital asset needs; and
Reduce the administrative burdens associated
with making real property available for homeless
assistance under Title V of the McKinney Act.
The bill also contains provisions intended to reduce its
budgetary impact, such as subjecting spending associated with
public-private partnerships and receipts collected by agencies'
property management authorities to Congressional
appropriations. Nevertheless, the Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) score of this legislation is again expected to be
unreasonably high because it likely will not take into account
the cost savings associated with public-private partnerships
and outleases. Although CBO has yet to score this legislation,
the Office of Management and Budget and the Committee believe
that full implementation of this legislation would save the
federal government a significant percentage of the $4 billion
annual upkeep of unused real property.
Sharing Information To Reduce Improper Payments
Improper payments to recipients of federal benefit and loan
programs in the amount of $20 billion has been identified in
agency financial statements for both fiscal years 2001 and
2002.\2\ Significant reduction of improper payments could be
achieved by more aggressive sharing of information collected by
one government agency and analyzed by the paying agency if the
pertinent information is utilized to verify program eligibility
and provide improved controls over payments. For instance,
savings have resulted from the use of taxpayer information for
locating Department of Education loan default recipients and
loan repayment amounts and from the use of criminal records to
identify fugitive felons ineligible for food stamp and
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families payments.
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\2\ Full Committee Hearing on ``Cutting Out Waste, Fraud,
Mismanagement, Overlap and Duplication: Exploring Ideas for Improving
Federal Reorganization, Management and Spending,'' July 16, 2003,
testimony of Paul Posner, Managing Director for Federal Budget and
Intergovernmental Relations Issues, Strategic Issues, General
Accounting Office.
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Significant savings could also be achieved in the awarding
of Department of Education Pell Grants, where approximately
$602 million in excess payments were made during fiscal years
2001 and 2002 because of underreported income by recipients.
Internal Revenue Service data could serve as a check on income
levels of recipients. Other grant and loan programs
administered by the Department of Education where cost-savings
could be achieved by data sharing include the Supplemental
Educational Opportunity Grants, Stafford and Parent Loans for
Undergraduate Students, Perkins loans, and work-study programs.
Reported problems with federal rent subsidy programs
administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) also suggest possible savings through better information
sharing. HUD financial statements for fiscal year 2001 report
that the federal government overpaid rent subsidies by almost
$1 billion due to the underreporting of income by tenant
beneficiaries. Similar savings could be targeted in Medicare
and Social Security payments by relying on state and local
death data, in Housing and Urban Development mortgage insurance
programs by relying on IRS data, and in Food Stamp payments by
comparing data on IRS income levels.
The Committee proposes that government-wide cross-agency
statutory provisions should be enacted that would allow
administrators of federal benefit programs limited access to
certain federal and state administrative data, such as federal
tax returns and the National Directory of New Hires, for the
purpose of verifying beneficiaries' eligibility. Limited access
would be provided only in accordance with appropriate security
and control policies to protect against unauthorized or
inappropriate disclosure of information.
Enact Office of Management and Budget Recommendations for Expanding
Competition and Accountability of Federal Grant Awards
In fiscal year 2001, the federal government awarded $325
billion in federal grants (U.S. Chief Financial Officers
Council, Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement
Act of 1999, p.2). Unlike federal procurement law, there are no
uniform procedures for competing out federal grants, nor is it
possible to establish how many grants and how much money are
awarded by the federal government by non-competitive means.
Because of Congressional earmarks, preferences for past grant
recipients, and a lack of uniform certification and assurance
requirements, many grants are not competitively awarded and
lack accountability. The Committee believes that significant
savings may be achieved by competitively awarding federal
grants and requiring greater accountability.
In the 106th Congress, the Committee on Government Reform
worked to enact the Federal Financial Assistance Management
Improvement Act of 1999 (P.L. 106-107). The act requires
federal agencies to simplify the procedures by which state and
local governments and nonprofit organizations apply for federal
grant and assistance programs. Within three years of enactment,
agencies were required to develop plans to implement the
legislation's seven objectives, and report the plans to
Congress. The seven objectives are:
1. Streamline and simplify the application,
administrative, and reporting procedures for federal
financial assistance programs;
2. Demonstrate active participation in interagency
coordination;
3. Demonstrate appropriate agency use, or plans for
use, of the common application and reporting systems;
4. Designate a lead agency official for carrying out
the responsibilities of the agency under the act;
5. Allow applicants to electronically apply for, and
report on the use of, funds from the federal financial
assistance program administered by the agency;
6. Ensure recipients of federal financial assistance
provide timely, complete, and high quality information
in response to federal reporting requirements; and
7. Establish specific annual goals and objectives, in
cooperation with recipients of federal financial
assistance, and measure annual performance.
The Act also requires OMB to report to the Congress on the
agencies' plans and the General Accounting Office to evaluate
and report to OMB and the Congress on the bill's effectiveness.
On May 31, 2002, OMB submitted to the Congress its first set of
recommendations to identify statutory impediments to
competitively awarding federal grants. The recommendations
included the following:
1. Rationalize the certifications and assurances
required of grantees;
2. Determine the proper use of ``certifications'' and
``assurances;''
3. Modify program statutes to set aside a specific
percentage of grant or program funding to pay for third
party evaluation;
4. Shorten area-wide agency review to a reasonable
period;
5. Establish simplified procedures for smaller
organizations to receive section 501(c)(3) tax status;
6. Establish uniform requirements for financial
assistance programs across all thirteen appropriations
acts;
7. Identify common requirements across program areas,
consolidate reporting requirements, and establish
uniform definitions;
8. Require the use of a single identifier for all
grantees and require its use in the administrations E-
Grants initiative; and
9. Raise the threshold that requires grantees to be
audited from $300,000 to $500,000 in annual federal
assistance.;
Pursuant to these recommendations, the Committee proposes
to amend Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement
Act of 1999 and enact these recommendations. The Committee
believes that the enactment of these recommendations would
enable and encourage more organizations to compete for the
award of federal grants and financial assistance and also
ensure greater accountability. Greater competition and
accountability for federal grants will promote greater
efficiencies in the delivery of the intended benefits of the
grant programs and allow the federal government to deliver the
same benefits at a lower level of spending.
Additional Views
I support ridding the government of waste, fraud, and
abuse. I do not support, however, the numerical targets for
waste, fraud, and abuse reduction that were handed out by
Budget Committee Chairman Nussle. Eliminating waste, fraud, and
abuse is inherently a bottom-up endeavor. Congress needs to
scrutinize every program carefully to find areas of waste,
fraud, and abuse--not cook the books to meet arbitrary targets
from the Budget Committee.
The Budget Committee instructed our Committee to identify
ways to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse equal to 1% of the total
mandatory spending subject to our Committee's jurisdiction,
which the Budget Committee said was $9.9 billion over 10 years.
This number is wrong because it double counted the civil
service retirement and disability trust fund and the
supplemental DC pension trust fund. In fact, 1% of the
mandatory spending in Committee on Government Reform's
jurisdiction is only $7.3 billion over 10 years. Moreover, even
this $7.3 figure is unachievable. As the majority's findings
explain, the amount of funds that can be saved in the mandatory
spending programs within the jurisdiction of the Committee on
Government Reform is relatively small.
The majority makes several recommendations for reducing
waste, fraud, and abuse in discretionary spending. I agree with
some of these recommendations, such as increasing the operating
budget for the Inspector General (IG) of the Office of
Personnel Management. In addition, I support passage of H.R.
2548, the Federal Property Asset Management Reform Act of 2003,
although there is dispute among experts about the amount of
savings this legislation would produce.
In other instances, I support the goals articulated by the
majority, but have some unanswered questions about the means.
For example, the majority recommends reducing improper payments
by increasing data sharing. Reducing improper payments is an
important goal, but there are unanswered questions about data
sharing. For example, it is important to know what information
should be shared and with whom while still protecting privacy,
confidentiality, and program integrity. The majority also makes
recommendations regarding the grants process in the name of
increasing competition and accountability. I support more
competition and more accountability, but it is unclear whether
the specific proposals in the majority's findings would achieve
those worthy goals.
One major concern I have abllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll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llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll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llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllding
facility in Frankfurt, Germany-slated to open in mid-
2005-for use as a regional hub to conduct and support
diplomatic operations;
Has relocated more than 100 positions from
the Paris embassy to the regional Financial Services
Center in Charleston, South Carolina; and
Is working with OMB on a cost-sharing
mechanism, as previously mentioned, that will give all
U.S. agencies an incentive to weigh the high costs to
taxpayers associated with assigning staff overseas.
In addition to these rightsizing actions, there are other
areas where the adoption of industry best practices could lead
to cost reductions and streamlined services. For example, in
1997, we reported that State could significantly streamline its
employee transfer and housing relocation processes. We also
reported in 1998 that State's overseas posts could potentially
save millions of dollars by implementing best practices such as
competitive sourcing.
In light of competing priorities as new needs emerge,
particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, State must be prepared to
make difficult strategic decisions on which posts and positions
it will fill and which positions it could remove, relocate, or
regionalize. State will need to marshal and manage its human
capital to facilitate the most efficient, effective allocation
of these significant resources.
Information Technology
Up-to-date information technology, along with adequate and
modern office facilities, is an important part of diplomatic
readiness. We have reported that State has long been plagued by
poor information technology at its overseas posts, as well as
weaknesses in its ability to manage information technology
modernization programs. State's information technology
capabilities provide the foundation of support for U.S.
government operations around the world, yet many overseas posts
have been equipped with obsolete information technology systems
that prevented effective interagency information sharing.
The Secretary of State has made a major commitment to
modernizing the department's information technology. In March
2003, we testified that the department invested $236 million in
fiscal year 2002 on key modernization initiatives for overseas
posts and plans to spend $262 million over fiscal years 2003
and 2004. State reports that its information technology is now
in the best shape it has ever been, including improved Internet
access and upgraded computer equipment. The department is now
working to replace its antiquated cable system with a new
integrated messaging and retrieval system, which it
acknowledges is an ambitious effort.
State's OIG and GAO have raised a number of concerns
regarding the department's management of information technology
programs. For example, in 2001, we reported that State was not
following proven system acquisition and investment practices in
attempting to deploy a common overseas knowledge management
system. This system was intended to provide functionality
ranging from basic Internet access and e-mail to mission-
critical policy formulation and crisis management support. We
recommended that State limit its investment in this system
until it had secured stakeholder involvement and buy-in. State
has since discontinued the project due to a lack of interagency
buy-in and commitment, thereby avoiding additional costs of
more than $200 million.
Recognizing that interagency information sharing and
collaboration can pay off in terms of greater efficiency and
effectiveness of overseas operations, State's OIG reported that
the department recently decided to merge some of the objectives
associated with the interagency knowledge management system
into its new messaging system. We believe that the department
should try to eliminate the barriers that prevented
implementation of this system. As State continues to modernize
information technology at overseas posts, it is important that
the department employ rigorous and disciplined management
processes on each of its projects to minimize the risks that
the department will spend large sums of money on systems that
do notproduce commensurate value.
Strategic Planning
Linking performance and financial information is a key
feature of sound management-reinforcing the connection between
resources consumed and results achieved-and an important
element in giving the public a useful and informative
perspective on federal spending. A well-defined mission and
clear, well understood strategic goals are essential in helping
agencies make intelligent trade-offs among short- and long-term
priorities and ensure that program and resource commitments are
sustainable. In recent years, State has made improvements to
its strategic planning process both at headquarters and
overseas that are intended to link staffing and budgetary
requirements with policy priorities. For instance, State has
developed a new strategic plan for fiscal years 2004 through
2009, which, unlike previous strategic plans, was developed in
conjunction with USAID and aligns diplomatic and development
efforts. At the field level, State revised the MPP process so
that posts are now required to identify key goals for a given
fiscal year, and link staffing and budgetary requirements to
fulfilling these priorities.
State's compliance with the Government Performance and
Results Act of 1993 (GPRA), which requires federal agencies to
prepare annual performance plans covering the program
activities set out in their budgets, has been mixed. While
State's performance plans fell short of GPRA requirements from
1998 through 2000, the department has recently made strides in
its planning and reporting processes. For example, in its
performance plan for 2002, State took a major step toward
implementing GPRA requirements, and it has continued to make
improvements in its subsequent plans.
As we have previously reported, although connections
between specific performance and funding levels can be
difficult to make, efforts to infuse performance information
into budget deliberations have the potential to change the
terms of debate from simple outputs to outcomes. Continued
improvements to strategic and performance planning will ensure
that State is setting clear objectives, tying resources to
these objectives, and monitoring its progress in achieving
them-all of which are essential to efficient operations.
U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Now I would like to discuss some of the challenges USAID
faces in managing its human capital, evaluating its programs
and measuring their performance, and managing its information
technology and financial systems. I will also outline GAO's
findings from our reviews of USAID's democracy and rule of law
programs in Latin America and the former Soviet Union.
Human Capital Management
Since the early 1990s, we have reported that USAID has made
limited progress in addressing its human capital management
issues and managing the changes in its overseas workforce. A
major concern is that USAID has not established a comprehensive
workforce plan that is integrated with the agency's strategic
objectives and ensures that the agency has skills and
competencies necessary to meet its emerging foreign assistance
challenges. Developing such a plan is critical due to a
reduction in the agency's workforce during the 1990s and
continuing attrition-more than half of the agency's foreign
service officers are eligible to retire by 2007. According to
USAID's OIG, the steady decline in the number of foreign
service and civil service employees with specialized technical
expertise has resulted in insufficient staff with needed skills
and experience and less experienced personnel managing
increasingly complex programs. Meanwhile, USAID's program
budget has increased from $7.3 billion in 2001 to about $12
billion in fiscal year 2003, due primarily to significant
increases in HIV/AIDS funding and supplemental funding for
emerging programs in Iraq and Afghanistan. The combination of
continued attrition of experienced foreign service officers,
increased program funding, and emerging foreign policy
priorities raises concerns regarding USAID's ability to
maintain effective oversight of its foreign assistance
programs.
USAID's lack of progress in institutionalizing a workforce
planning system has led to certain vulnerabilities. For
example, as we reported in July 2002, USAID lacks a ``surge
capacity'' that enables it to quickly hire the staff needed to
respond to emerging demands and post-conflict or post-emergency
reconstruction situations. We also reported that insufficient
numbers of contract officers affected the agency's ability to
deliver hurricane reconstruction assistance in Latin America in
the program's early phases.
USAID is aware of its human capital management and
workforce planning shortcomings and is now beginning to address
some of them with targeted hiring and other actions.
Program Evaluation and Performance Measurement
USAID continues to face difficulties in identifying and
collecting the data it needs to develop reliable performance
measures and accurately report the results of its programs. Our
work and that of USAID's OIG have identified a number of
problems with the annual results data that USAID's operating
units have been reporting. USAID has acknowledged these
concerns and has undertaken several initiatives to correct
them. Although the agency has made a serious effort to develop
improved performance measures, it continues to report numerical
outputs that do not gauge the impact of its programs.
Without accurate and reliable performance data, USAID has
little assurance that its programs achieve their objectives and
related targets. In July 1999, we commented on USAID's fiscal
year 2000 performance plan and noted that because the agency
depends on international organizations and thousands of partner
institutions for data, it does not have full control over how
data are collected, reported, or verified. In April 2002, we
reported that USAID had evaluated few of its experiences in
using various funding mechanisms and different types of
organizations to achieve its objectives. We concluded that with
better data on these aspects of the agency's operations, USAID
managers and congressional overseers would be better equipped
to analyze whether the agency's mix of approaches takes full
advantage of nongovernmental organizations to achieve the
agency's purposes.
Information Technology and Financial Management
USAID's information systems do not provide managers with
the accurate information they need to make sound and cost-
effective decisions. USAID's OIG has reported that the agency's
processes for procuring information technology have not
followed established guidelines, which require executive
agencies to implement a process that maximizes the value and
assesses the risks of information technology investments. In
addition, USAID's computer systems are vulnerable and need
better security controls. USAID management has acknowledged
these weaknesses andthe agency is making efforts to correct
them.
Effective financial systems and controls are necessary to
ensure that USAID management has timely and reliable
information to make effective, informed decisions and that
assets are safeguarded. USAID has made progress in correcting
some of its systems and internal control deficiencies and is in
the process of revising its plan to remedy financial management
weaknesses as required by the Federal Financial Management
Improvement Act of 1996. To obtain its goal, however, USAID
needs to continue efforts to resolve its internal control
weaknesses and ensure that planned upgrades to its financial
systems are in compliance with federal financial system
requirements.
Democracy and Rule of Law Programs
Our reviews of democracy and rule of law programs in Latin
America and the former Soviet Union demonstrate that these
programs have had limited results and suggest areas for
improving the efficiency and impact of these efforts.
In Latin America, we found that U.S. assistance has helped
bring about important criminal justice reforms in five
countries. This assistance has also help improve transparency
and accountability of some government functions, increase
attention to human rights, and support elections that
observation groups have considered free and fair. In several
countries of the former Soviet Union, U.S. agencies have helped
support a variety of legal system reforms and introduced some
innovative legal concepts and practices in the areas of
legislative and judicial reform, legal education, law
enforcement, and civil society. In both regions, however,
sustainability of these programs is questionable. Establishing
democracy and rule of law in these countries is a complex
undertaking that requires long-term host government commitment
and consensus to succeed. However, host governments have not
always provided the political support and financial and human
capital needed to sustain these reforms. In other cases, U.S.-
supported programs were limited, and countries did not adopt
the reforms and programs on a national scale.
In both of our reviews, we found that several management
issues shared by USAID and the other agencies have affected
implementation of these programs. Poor coordination among the
key U.S. agencies has been a long-standing management problem,
and cooperation with other foreign donors has been limited.
U.S. agencies' strategic plans do not outline how these
agencies will overcome coordination problems and cooperate with
other foreign donors on program planning and implementation to
maximize scarce resources. Also, U.S. agencies, including
USAID, have not consistently evaluated program results and have
tended to stress output measures, such as the numbers of people
trained, over indicators that measure program outcomes and
results, such as reforming law enforcement practices. Further,
U.S. agencies have not consistently shared lessons learned from
completed projects, thus missing opportunities to enhance the
outcomes of their programs.
Mr. Chairman, this completes my prepared statement. I would
be happy to respond to any questions you or other members of
the committee may have at this time.
CONTACTS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For future contacts regarding this testimony, please call
Jess Ford or John Brummet at (202) 512-4128. Individuals making
key contributions to this testimony include Heather Barker,
David Bernet, Janey Cohen, Diana Glod, Kathryn Hartsburg,
Edward Kennedy, Joy Labez, Jessica Lundberg, and Audrey Solis.
Appendix I: GAO Reports on Resource Management
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Overseas Security, Presence, and Facilities
Overseas Presence: Conditions of Overseas Diplomatic
Facilities. GAO-03-557T. Washington, D.C.: March 20, 2003.
Overseas Presence: Rightsizing Framework Can Be Applied at
U.S. Diplomatic Posts in Developing Countries. GAO-03-396.
Washington, D.C.: April 7, 2003.
Embassy Construction: Process for Determining Staffing
Requirements Needs Improvement. GAO-03-411. Washington, D.C.:
April 7, 2003.
Overseas Presence: Framework for Assessing Embassy Staff
Levels Can Support Rightsizing Initiatives. GAO-02-780.
Washington, D.C.: July 26, 2002.
State Department: Sale of Unneeded Property Has Increased,
but Further Improvements Are Necessary. GAO-02-590. Washington,
D.C.: June 11, 2002.
Embassy Construction: Long-Term Planning Will Enhance
Program Decision-making. GAO-01-11. Washington, D.C.: January
22, 2001.
State Department: Decision to Retain Embassy Parking Lot in
Paris, France, Should Be Revisited. GAO-01-477. Washington,
D.C.: April 13, 2001.
Staffing and Workforce Planning
State Department: Staffing Shortfalls and Ineffective
Assignment System Compromise Diplomatic Readiness at Hardship
Posts. GAO-02-626. Washington, D.C.: June 18, 2002.
Foreign Languages: Human Capital Approach Needed to Correct
Staffing and Proficiency Shortfalls. GAO-02-375. Washington,
D.C.: January 31, 2002.
Information Management
Information Technology: State Department-Led Overseas
Modernization Program Faces Management Challenges. GAO-02-41.
Washington, D.C.: November 16, 2001.
Foreign Affairs: Effort to Upgrade Information Technology
Overseas Faces Formidable Challenges. GAO-T-AIMD/NSIAD-00-214.
Washington, D.C.: June 22, 2000.
Electronic Signature: Sanction of the Department of State's
System. GAO/AIMD-00-227R. Washington, D.C.: July 10, 2000.
Strategic and Performance Planning and Foreign Affairs Management
Major Management Challenges and Program Risks: Department
of State. GAO-03-107. Washington, D.C.: January 2003.
Department of State: Status of Achieving Key Outcomes and
Addressing Major Management Challenges. GAO-02-42. Washington,
D.C.: December 7, 2001.
Observations on the Department of State's Fiscal Year 1999
Performance Report and Fiscal Year 2001 Performance Plan. GAO/
NSIAD-00-189R. Washington, D.C.: June 30, 2000.
Major Management Challenges and Program Risks: Department
of State. GAO-01-252. Washington, D.C.: January 2001.
U.S. Agency for International Development: Status of
Achieving Key Outcomes and Addressing Major Management
Challenges. GAO-01-721. Washington, D.C.: August 17, 2001.
Observations on the Department of State's Fiscal Year 2000
Performance Plan. GAO/NSIAD-99-183R. Washington, D.C.: July 20,
1999.
Major Management Challenges and Program Risks:
Implementation Status of Open Recommendations. GAO/OCG-99-28.
Washington, D.C.: July 30, 1999.
The Results Act: Observations on the Department of State's
Fiscal Year 1999 Annual Performance Plan. GAO/NSIAD-98-210R.
Washington, D.C.: June 17, 1998.
U.S. Agency for International Development
Major Management Challenges and Program Risks: U.S. Agency
for International Development. GAO-03-111. Washington, D.C.:
January 2003.
Foreign Assistance: Disaster Recovery Program Addressed
Intended Purposes, but USAID Needs Greater Flexibility to
Improve Its Response Capability. GAO-02-787. Washington, D.C.:
July 24, 2002.
Foreign Assistance: USAID Relies Heavily on Nongovernmental
Organizations, but Better Data Needed to Evaluate Approaches.
GAO-02-471. Washington, D.C.: April 25, 2002.
Major Management Challenges and Program Risks: U.S. Agency
for International Development. GAO-01-256. Washington, D.C.:
January 2001.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T9421A.001
House of Representatives,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC, September 10, 2003.
Hon. Jim Nussle,
Chairman, House Budget Committee,
309 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Nussle: Pursuant to section 301(b) and (c) of
the conference report accompanying H. Con. Res 95, I am pleased
to submit the following recommendations to reduce waste, fraud,
and abuse for the 2004 fiscal year.
Misuse of Non-Federal Training Facilities at the Department of Justice
The Justice Department should reduce employee training and
meeting costs by using federal facilities instead of more
expensive non-governmental facilities for such purposes. For
example, the Justice Department maintains the National Advocacy
Center, an extensive training facility for Department employees
located in Columbia, South Carolina to train federal, state,
and local prosecutors and litigators in advocacy skills and
management of legal operations. On occasion, however, the
Justice Department has conducted training and meeting functions
for its employees at non-governmental facilities located in
exotic or far-flung venues such as the Florida Keys and Santa
Monica.
Accordingly, the Justice Department should be required to
use the most cost-effective training and meeting facilities for
its employees. For any predominantly internal training or
conference meeting, the Justice Department should be required
to use only a facility that does not require a payment to a
private entity for the use of such facility, unless
specifically authorized in writing by the Attorney General. In
addition, the Attorney General should be required to prepare an
annual report to the Chairmen and ranking members of the House
and Senate Judiciary Committees that details each training or
conference meeting requiring authorization. The report should
explain why the facility was chosen and provide a breakdown of
any expenditures incurred in excess of the cost of conducting
the training or meeting at a governmental facility. While
savings resulting from this recommendation are difficult to
ascertain with quantifiable certainty, this requirement would
save at least $2 million during FY 2004.
COPS Grants Misuse
Waste, fraud and abuse in Community Oriented Policing
Services (COPS) Grants can be reduced by replacing on-site
reviews by program officers with on-site audits and requiring a
immediate stop to fund disbursements ``in process'' when grant
conditions are not met by the grantee.
Office of Inspector General reports issued in 1999 found
that many grantees did not submit the required program
monitoring and financial reports, and that COPS on-site reviews
did not seek to cover whether grant conditions were being met.
Subsequent audits confirmed that COPS had not corrected its
grant management approach to require compliance, based on
testimony from Glenn Fine on March 14, 2002, before the
Subcommittee on Crime. In his testimony, he provided numerous
instances of fraud by COPS grantees, and stated that between
1992 and 1999, there were $52 million in questioned costs and
$71 million in funds that could be better used, comprising 24%
of the total COPS funds during the period. He testified that of
the subsequent 185 audits for the period from 1999 through the
close of 2001, auditors identified more than $63 million in
questioned costs and $32 million in funds to better use.
The Committee is considering legislation to establish
through its Department of Justice Reauthorization legislation
an Office of Audit and Assessment that will conduct on-site
audits and have the authority to cease active funding of COPS
grants where grant conditions are not met, or there
circumstances that suggest fraud or abuse. The authorizing
legislation will require OJP to conduct these audits on at
least 10% of the amount of the total grants, and requires the
entire grant disbursement to be suspended if more than 1% of
the grant is misused. This solution will reduce the total
questioned costs (possible fraud and abuse) and poorly used
funds (waste).
Because the FY 2004 Commerce Justice State Appropriations
bill has not been enacted into law, potential costs savings and
more effective use of funds estimates will be based on the FY
2003 enacted budget for COPS of $923 million. Extrapolating
from the Inspector General's conclusion that 24% of the funds
received by grantees prior to 1999 were either questioned costs
or could be better used, roughly $222 million of FY2003 funds
may be questionably used. If the Office of Audit and Assessment
is able to audit 10% of the total (or $92 million), as required
in the authorizing statute, and it identifies 20% of the grants
so audited as questionably deployed or exceeding 1% in misused
funds, the cost savings per year to the federal government
would be as much as $18 million. If the Office is eventually
able to audit as much as 50% of the total ($461 million), the
savings per year could reach $90 million.
OJP Grant Funds Abuse
Waste, fraud and abuse in the OJP Local Law Enforcement
Block Grant Program (LLEBG) and the Byrne Formula Grant
programs can be reduced by consolidating the programs and by
applying the same on-site audits to these grants as to the COPS
grants, together with immediate fund cessation when grant
conditions are discovered to be unmet by the grantee.
The Committee has prepared draft legislation to authorize
the establishment of a Community Capacity Development Office,
headed by a Director appointed by the Attorney General to
provide training to actual and prospective participants under
grant programs to assist such participants in understanding the
substantive and procedural requirements for participating in
such programs. We believe that much of the waste and abuse
derives from ignorance both of the program requirements and of
a lack of awareness of the consequences of misuse of grant
proceeds.
The draft Department of Justice Reauthorization bill
requires the new Office of Audit and Assessment to conduct on-
site audits and exercise its authority to cease active funding
where grant conditions are not met, or there circumstances that
suggest fraud or abuse. The authorizing legislation will
require OJP to conduct these audits on at least 10% of the
amount of the total grants, and requires the entire grant
disbursement to be suspended if more than one percent of the
grant is misused.
Based on the FY 2003 enacted budget for LLEBG ($380
million) and Byrne Formula ($497 million) and Discretionary
Grants ($150 million), the funds subject to audit will total
$927 million. Using the same formula applied above to COPS
grants, it can be assumed that 24 percent of the funds, or $223
million of FY2003 funds may be questionably used. If the Office
of Audit and Assessment is able to audit 10% of the total (or
$92 million), as required in the authorizing statute, and it
identifies 20% of the grants so audited as questionably
deployed or exceeding 1% in misused funds, the cost savings per
year to the federal government would be as much as $18 million.
If the Office is eventually able to audit as much as 50% of the
total ($463 million), the savings per year could reach $90
million.
State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP)
The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP)
provides payments to state and local jurisdictions that have
had criminal aliens in their custody during the previous year.
SCAAP pays each jurisdiction based on its share of the overall
estimated expenditures for housing such aliens for all
applicants combined. It does not fully reimburse jurisdictions
for such expenditures. To ensure equity in comparisons and to
simplify the application process, expenditure comparisons are
done using the cost of correctional officers for a facility,
rather than total costs, which can vary widely in their methods
of calculation.
Applicants for the SCAAP program provide information on
those inmates assumed to be criminal aliens including--A-number
(INS identifier) if available, last name, first name, middle
name, date of birth, inmate number, country of birth, date
taken into custody, date released from custody, and FBI number,
if any. BJA then forwards this information to the Immigration
and Naturalization Service, where it is checked against
databases of known aliens.
This most recent year, BJA received 284,325 inmate records.
Of those 93,489 (33%) were actual illegal aliens and could be
verified by INS. Of the remaining, 121,618 (43%) were
unverifiable, 51,680 (18%) were aliens with a legal status, and
17,538 (6%) were verifiable American citizens. When determining
the amount to pay a jurisdiction, BJA ``discounts'' the amount
paid for unverifiable aliens. This discount differs based on
the type of facility and of the amount a jurisdiction would
receive for a verifiable illegal alien, BJA pays 60% of that
amount to city facilities, 80% to county jails, and 65% to
state prisons. These differences are based on the expertise of
the INS, which concludes that the percentage of actual illegal
aliens in a facility differs with the type.
The application of more verifiable requirements for
recipients of the Bureau of Justice Assistance's State Criminal
Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) will provide positive
incentives for State and Municipal law enforcement to
positively identify apprehended aliens suspected of crimes
through better cooperation with the Department of Homeland
Security's federal law enforcement component, improve record
keeping to reduce possible fraud, and to prosecute and convict
criminal aliens promptly. While the savings from the
implementation of more rigorous application requirements are
not precisely ascertainable, such a program will result in
savings at least $40 million for FY 2004.
Uncollected Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) Fee Revenue
The U.S. Government is losing revenue by not collecting a
fee that Congress mandated students and exchange visitors
seeking to enter the United States pay to fund the Student and
Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).
Section 641 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) mandated the imposition of a fee on
students and exchange visitors to fund the design, development,
and operation of a program for tracking alien students. That
tracking system, which is now fully implemented, is known as
SEVIS. On December 21, 1999, the INS published a proposed rule
to implement this provision, setting a fee of $95 per student.
Following the language in section 641(e) of IIRIRA, which
required that ``an approved institution of higher education and
a designated exchange visitor program'' collect and remit the
fee to the Attorney General, the proposed regulation identified
these two groups as the designated fee collectors. The INS
received over 4,600 comments to the proposed regulation, most
of which opposed the role of educational institutions and
exchange visitor programs as fee collectors as inappropriate
for such institutions.
In response, the INS worked with Congress, the State
Department, and stakeholder groups to amend section 641(e). The
resulting legislation was included in section 404 of the Visa
Waiver Permanent Act, Pub. L. 106-396 (2000). The three most
significant changes in that section were: (1) the removal of
the requirement that educational institutions and exchange
visitor programs collect SEVIS fees, and the requirement that
aliens pay fees directly to the Attorney General; (2) a
requirement that the alien pay the fee before being classified
as an F, J, or M nonimmigrant; and (3) a reduction in the fee
amount for certain J-1 nonimmigrants, specifically au pairs,
camp counselors, and summer work/travel participants.
The INS subsequently submitted a fee collection rule to
OMB, but withdrew that rule following the passage of the USA
PATRIOT Act, which authorized funding to accommodate the fast
track implementation of SEVIS. Staff has been told that the
Administration is currently working on an interim fee rule. On
April 8, 2003, the Chairman and Chairman Hostettler sent a
letter to Secretary Ridge asking that the fee regulation be
implemented by May 31, 2003. On May 1, 2003, DHS responded,
stating that ``DHS intends to resubmit a revised regulation to
OMB shortly.'' To date, no proposed rule implementing the fee
has been issued. In FY 2001, 625,133 student and exchange
visitor visas were issued. At $95 per visa, the fee set in the
1999 proposed regulation, this would have provided $59,387,635
in revenue for the federal government. In FY2002, 547,191 visas
were issued. This would have totaled $51,983,145 in revenue. It
is reasonable to extrapolate out those numbers for FY 2003, and
expect such a fee to generate at least $50,000,000 in revenue.
I trust that these recommendations will assist the Budget
Committee's efforts to identify and eliminate waste, fraud, and
abuse at federal agencies. Thank you for your consideration of
these proposals.
Sincerely,
F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.,
Chairman.
House of Representatives,
Committee on Small Business,
Washington, DC, September 5, 2003.
Hon. James Nussle,
Chairman, Committee on the Budget,
Cannon HOB, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: I am pleased to present to you the
findings of waste, fraud, and abuse identified by the House
Small Business Committee. Please find enclosed a copy of the
Small Business Committee's findings in compliance with FY 2004
Budget Resolution (J. Con. Res. 95).
Sincerely yours,
Donald A. Manzullo,
Chairman.
FINDINGS OF WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE IDENTIFIED BY THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON
SMALL BUSINESS
1. Loan defaults under the Small Business Administration's
(SBA) 504 Loan Program are currently collected by SBA
personnel. The current collection rate of these defaulted loans
is only 17 percent. The SBA re-authorization bill (HR 2802)
passed by the committee on July 24 corrects this inadequate
collection rate by mandating that the SBA contract out the
collection function to firms that have expertise in this field.
It is anticipated that the collection rate will be
significantly higher in the future because of this change.
2. Loan defaults under the SBA's 7(a) Loan Program have
averaged 14 percent for the last three years. In 2002,
preferred lending institutions made up 55 percent of the SBA's
7(a) loans totaling $7 billion. SBA has delegated authority to
these lenders, yet guarantees to pay up to 85 percent of the
defaulted loan amount. HR 2802 increases the qualifications to
become a preferred lender, ensuring that only truly qualified
institutions are in the program. It is anticipated that the
default rate will be significantly lower in the future because
of this change.
3. HR 2802 also eliminates an overhead position in each SBA
district, that of Deputy District Administrator. Instead that
position shall be re-assigned to one of direct assistance to
small businesses for the purpose of obtaining federal
contracts. This change will result in a more efficient SBA
workforce with more employees directly assisting small
businesses and fewer in redundant management.
4. On May 7, 2003 the full committee held a hearing titled
``Are Big Businesses being awarded contracts intended for Small
Businesses?'' The testimony presented by the witnesses
established numerous examples of this happening. In some
instances fraud on the part of the big businesses may have
occurred; more commonly the agencies were inconsistently
recording the size status of companies in the various contracts
they awarded. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has
acknowledged the problem. OMB has issued guidelines for
agencies to minimize future occurrences of the problem. This
committee is pursuing this issue and will hold future hearings
if necessary to determine if the OMB guidelines have corrected
the problem.
5. On June 11, 2003 the full committee held a hearing
titled ``Revitalizing America's Manufacturers: SBA Business
Administration Development Programs.'' The SBA gave testimony
on its new electronic catalog website for small businesses to
sell to federal agencies. As explained at the SBA website:
`` NEXGEN's Solutions (NEXGEN) is a commercially owned site
which operates SBAExchange under a contract with SBA. SBA's
participation on the Exchange does not constitute or imply an
endorsement of any of NEXGEN's additional products, services or
operations or those of any other participant or vendor on SBA
Exchange.
The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) has
entered into a contract with NEXGEN's Solutions, Inc. to bring
you a national E-Procurement initiative to automate
procurements by creating an Internet-based exchange for the
procurement of goods and services from the members of the small
business community.
Under this initiative, small businesses can participate in
conducting e-business transactions with a relatively low cost
of entry and little or no technical expertise.
The annual cost for a small business to participate in the
SBAExchange is $1,500. Additionally, a transaction fee of 2
percent will be added to all orders. The first 2,500 small
businesses to register will receive a $450.00 discount.
Instructions regarding payment arrangements and discounts can
be found at www.SBAExchange.gov.''
The Committee finds the charges quoted above to be
excessive in relation to the value given. Furthermore there are
similar electronic catalogs offered by other agencies such as
the General Services Administration and the Defense Logistics
Agency. Another such site merely wastefully duplicates existing
sites and confuses the small business community about where
they should be registered.
6. The Small Business Administration (SBA) has admitted
ineligible companies into the HUBzone program. The agency has
attributed this error to ``inadequate resources to monitor the
program.'' The Committee feels that the agency has sufficient
funds devoted to the program to monitor it properly and that
any abuses of the program should be fixed by the SBA with its
existing resources.
7. A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
contract was solicited in 2002 as a total small business set
aside. There were five awardees. Two large businesses were
included in these five. The Committee received a complaint from
one of the small businesses affected by this action. The two
large businesses have received and continue to receive most of
the resulting task orders. The negatively affected small
business further alleged that the other two small business
awardees were merely American front companies for foreign
companies based in Canada and India. At the request of this
committee, the SBA began an investigation into this case. Final
determination by SBA is pending.
8. The Committee was contacted several times this session
by small businesses and their representative associations
regarding practices discouraging small business utilization by
the United States Postal Service (USPS). In June, 2003 the
Postmaster General agreed to have the USPS modify its exclusive
contract with Boise Cascade, Inc. for office products, to allow
small businesses to be utilized whenever they offer office
products at a lower price than what Boise Cascade offers. The
value of that contract is estimated at $50 million annually,
thereby allowing small businesses to compete for that much more
business each year of the contract (until 2006).
9. The Committee is aware of and has concerns about the
potential waste involved in the proposed multi-million dollar
``Circulator'' bus system planned by the Washington DC
Transportation Authority. This bus system is designed to
transport riders around the Capital Mall area and downtown
Washington. Federal funding would be required in the amount of
many millions of dollars and the result will be a bus system in
direct competition with existing, for-profit, non-subsidized
local businesses such as the Landmark Services Tourmobile, Inc.
and several small van companies currently serving Federal
agencies. This problem first came to the attention of the
Committee at a hearing held July 18, 2001 titled ``Federal
Government Competition with Small Business.'' The Committee has
been following the ``Circulator'' proposal since that time.
10. On November 21, 2002 the full committee held a hearing
titled ``Federal Prison Industry's Unfair Competition with
Small Business: Potential Interim Administrative Solutions.''
Testimony was given of instances of the Federal Prison
Industries (UNICOR) unfairly fulfilling federal agency
requirements in which they merely procured, repackaged, and
delivered items without assembling or manufacturing the items
themselves, thereby negating the ``learning a trade'' purpose
behind UNICOR's reason for existing. The extent of this abusive
practice was not given but UNICOR's total sales in 2002 were
$679 million. If even a small percentage of sales are
attributable to this ``reselling'' practice, then millions of
dollars are being unfairly contracted to this mandatory-sourced
agency. This problem was also identified in an earlier hearing
held on June 6, 2001 titled ``Federal Prison Industries
Procurement and its effects on Small Business.'' At the
November hearing, it was stated that the UNICOR Board of
Directors recently announced that it is eliminating the
practice of ``pass-through'' sales. The Committee will monitor
UNICOR to determine if the practice has indeed been
discontinued.
11. In July 2003, The General Accounting Office (GAO), at
the request of another committee, began an audit of selected
agencies to determine how widespread is the abuse of federal
executives holding degrees from non-accredited universities.
Several examples of holders of these ``diploma mill degrees''
in high positions have been publicized in the media.
In August 2003, the committee requested that GAO include
the SBA in the list of agencies being audited. The GAO agreed
to the request and informed the committee that the audit of the
approximately 250 SBA executives of GS-15 grade or higher
should be completed no later than October 2003.
House of Representatives,
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
Washington, DC, July 25, 2003.
Hon. Jim Nussle,
Chairman, Committee on the Budget, House of Representatives, Cannon
House Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Nussle: In accordance with section 301 of the
Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2004, there
is transmitted herewith the Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee's findings as to changes in law necessary to
eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in mandatory spending
programs under its jurisdiction. This report was adopted by a
voice vote of the Full Committee at a July 23, 2003 business
meeting. Not all Members of the Committee agree with each and
every aspect of this report and also submitted are dissenting
Member views on certain findings.
Thank you for the opportunity to present this report. We
look forward to continued discussions with the Budget Committee
on how reductions in waste, fraud, and abuse in programs within
the Committee's jurisdiction may be met.
Sincerely,
Don Young,
Chairman.
Enclosure.
TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE--WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE
REPORT
Overview
The Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year
(FY) 2004 requires House and Senate authorizing committees to
identify opportunities to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in
the mandatory spending programs under their jurisdiction. The
purpose for this activity is to achieve savings and ensure that
taxpayers are getting the most for their money. Accordingly,
the Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee held a
hearing on July 22, 2003, regarding the Federal-aid Highways,
the Federal Transit administration (FTA) programs, Essential
Air Service (EAS), and Railroad Retirement programs. This
report outlines the Committee's plans for addressing the issues
raised in that hearing. Additionally, this Committee will
continue to exercise oversight in all programs under its
jurisdiction to ensure that tax dollars are used as efficiently
as possible.
This report was circulated to all Members of the T&I
Committee for their review and comment, and was approved in a
Full Committee meeting on July 23, 2003. While the report
reflects a bipartisan effort, the Committee wishes to emphasize
that not all Members of the Committee necessarily agree with
every aspect. Accordingly, the Committee reserves its
flexibility to determine program needs as the Committee and
Congress work their will through the legislative process.
Federal-aid Highways and FTA Programs
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides funding
to the states for construction and improvement projects through
a number of programs that are referred to collectively as
Federal-aid Highways. Although the states have considerable
discretion in choosing which projects to pursue with
apportioned funds, FHWA exercises varying levels of oversight
depending on the project. FTA is similar to FHWA in that
localities have discretion in pursuing these projects with
oversight by FTA.
In recent years significant variances have developed
between the need to build, repair, and improve roadways and
transit systems and the amount of funding available. In
addition to proposals to increase highway and transit funding,
more must be done to ensure that existing tax dollars are used
efficiently. Savings in the Federal-aid Highways and FTA
programs will mean more money invested more efficiently for
this nation's transportation infrastructure. The Committee is
working toward that objective and is addressing the specific
measures outlined below through the legislative process of the
ongoing TEA 21 reauthorization.
In a July 22, 2003 hearing, the Department of
Transportation (DOT) Inspector General (IG), the General
Accounting Office (GAO), and the FWHA Administrator testified
before this Committee, identifying a number of ways to make the
most of the federal dollars used in state transportation
projects. Those options include:
Strengthening project management skills and the
oversight ability of FHWA and FTA and requiring better project
management at the state and local level.
Improving financial management through the use of
finance plans on transportation projects costing $100 million
or more.
Increasing revenue collections by stopping fuel
tax evasion.
Continuing efforts to detect and prevent fraud by
making debarment mandatory and final when a contractor is
convicted of a fraud.
Support fraud deterrence and detection efforts by
the states by allowing them to share in recoveries from fraud
investigations.
Redirecting funds that are no longer needed from
inactive projects to new projects. The IG has identified $238
million that states could redeploy to projects in need of
funding.
In addition to the suggestions above, the issue of reducing
yearly excess contract authority in Federal-aid Highways was
addressed in the July 22 hearing. According to the witnesses,
this could be done by bringing contract authority more in line
with the obligation limits would make this planning more
accurate. Additionally, it would limit build up of cumulative
budget authority over time, thereby improving the accuracy of
budget planning by Congress and the Administration. FHWA has
pointed out, however, that states use the cumulative excess
contract authority to continue obligations for active projects,
thereby allowing the project to continue independently of
potential timing difficulties in the appropriations process.
Essential Air Service (EAS)
Costs for the EAS program have increased significantly
since 1995. According to the General Accounting Office, federal
appropriations to the program have grown from $37 million in
1995 to $113 million in fiscal year 2002 (in constant 2002
dollars). The costs of the program increased gradually until
September 11, 2001.
To address the problems outlined above, the Committee
recommended several reforms to the Essential Air Service
program. These reforms were proposed in section 415 of H.R.
2115 as recently reported by this Committee.
First, the Committee-reported bill provided that certain
EAS communities located close to hub airport be required to pay
a local share. Currently, EAS communities do not pay a local
share toward the cost of the subsidized service they receive.
The Committee-reported bill included a modest local share of up
to 10 percent be gradually phased in such that communities have
an opportunity to adjust their budgets to address this new
requirement.
Second, the Committee-reported bill establishes a Community
and Regional Choice program as an alternative to the EAS
program. All EAS subsidy-eligible communities will have the
option to switch from EAS to this alternative program. Under
the Community and Regional Choice program, rather than
receiving service from an airline subsidized by DOT, the
community could receive a grant from DOT to establish and pay
for the type of transportation service that best meets its
needs. For example, the community could choose to use its grant
to pay for scheduled air service, on-demand air taxi service,
fractional ownership of aircraft where passengers pay for the
service, surface transportation, or some other approach
approved by DOT. It could also adopt a regional approach and
pool its grant funds with other nearby communities that are
also participating in the Community and Regional Choice
program.
It is difficult to estimate the savings associated with
these reforms for several reasons. First, it is not clear how
many EAS subsidy-eligible communities would choose to stay in
the traditional EAS program and pay a local share rather than
switch to the new Community and Regional Choice Program, in
which no local share is required.
Second, for those communities that do switch to the new
program, it is not clear what amount of subsidy will be
required to support the transportation services that they
choose to establish. Presumably, the subsidy will be less, but
that is not certain.
Finally, the number of EAS subsidy-eligible communities
changes each year and has recently trended upward as aviation
traffic has declined due to the weak economy and other factors.
According to DOT, since September 11, 2001, carriers at 60
additional eligible communities filed notice to discontinue
unsubsidized service, triggering first-time subsidy at 28 of
them. Therefore, the Committee anticipates that the reforms
discussed above may result in cost avoidance, rather than cost
savings. In addition to restraining further cost increases, the
Committee believes that these reforms would result in a much
more effective use of federal funds.
Railroad Retirement Programs
The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) administers
comprehensive retirement-survivor, unemployment-sickness
insurance, and Medicare Part B benefit programs for railroad
workers and their families. These benefit program are funded by
payroll taxes on railroad workers and industry. The RRB is
responsible for ensuring that these funds are properly managed
and dispersed while maintaining excellent customer service.
Erroneous payments to ineligible recipients are typically
made because the RRB has out-date information about a
recipient's eligibility. Once current information is obtained
the RRB has a recovery rate of more than 90 percent of these
overpayments within one year of payment. Cases where
beneficiaries either provide false information about their
current status or refuse to return funds to the RRB are pursued
by the RRB Inspector General (RRB IG).
The RRB IG does not currently have authority for oversight
or to investigate fraud for any of the over $787 million in
Medicare funds that are distributed to railroad beneficiaries.
Previously this was a responsibility of the IG but was
transferred in a 1997 appropriations bill. The RRB IG has
estimated, based on experience at the Social Security
Administration, that over $49 million in fraudulent spending in
these programs could be avoided through increased oversight and
investigation. The Committee supports reinstating oversight
authority for the Medicare benefits managed by the RRB, in
coordination with the Health and Human Services (HHS) IG, and
believes it will result in further program savings through the
identification, investigation, and elimination of waste and
fraud.
At the July 22, 2003 hearing the RRB IG outlined several
options for changing the RRB's operating structure with hopes
of improving performance and garnering savings through
operating efficiencies. Those options included delegating
decision-making authority to a Chief Executive Officer and
senior agency managers; consolidation of 20 operating bureaus;
reducing the number of field service locations; transferring
Social Security Equivalent benefits to the Social Security
Administration; and pursuing a change in the entity structure
of the RRB to function as a government corporation or become
part of the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust
(NRRIT).
Members of the Railroad Retirement Board also testified at
the July 22 hearing and expressed their viewpoints and concerns
with the IG's organizational recommendations. At the hearing,
the Chairman of the RRB and its members confirmed their
commitment to reviewing RRB operations in their continuing
efforts to improve service and maximize operating
effectiveness. Board members outlined their efforts to address
the IG's improvement recommendations, recently creating the
role of a Senior Executive Officer to oversee the Executive
Committee and improve accountability, as well as reducing the
number of field offices by more than 40 percent while
maintaining excellent customer service. The consolidation of
field offices alone has saved an estimated $28 million
annually. The Board is strongly opposed to the IG's
recommendations of transferring the Social Security Equivalent
benefits to the Social Security Administration and changing the
structure of the RRB.
The Committee applauds the RRB's improvement efforts and
encourages continued collaborative efforts by the IG and the
Board members to eliminate fraud and pursue operating
efficiencies. The Committee also maintains its position of
supporting the current RRB structure so that rail beneficiaries
will continue to receive excellent customer service.
Dissenting View
Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for yesterday's hearing
for the purpose of identifying waste, fraud, and abuse in
Transportation spending programs under our jurisdiction, and
possible solutions that would save taxpayers' money. I am
concerned, however, that we are targeting a program that is
very important for many rural communities across America.
Yesterday, we discussed the merits of the Essential Air
Service (EAS) program--a program that ensures that small, rural
communities have reliable air service from their local airport
and keeps rural communities connected to the nation's aviation
and commerce system. As you know, Essential Air Service funding
increases a community's ability to retain air service--
important for communities who are struggling with a difficult
economy and where increased travel options have made it
extremely difficult for many carriers to continue to serve
small communities.
Yet, without EAS funding, subsidized carriers would no
longer find it economical to service many small, rural
communities and without air service, these communities may face
the possibility of closing their local airport. This possible
scenario would have a devastating impact on many communities in
South Central Pennsylvania. For example, according to a study
conducted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Altoona-
Blair County airport contributes $27.7 million to the local
area in terms of jobs, tourism, business and consumer travel.
If air service is discontinued, then enplanements at the
Altoona-Blair County airport will eventually decrease to a
level where they may not be eligible to receive Airport
Improvement Program (AIP) funding of $1 million.
Considering the economic benefit that local airport service
provide to small, rural communities across America like Blair
County; I do not believe that the EAS program raises to the
level of waste, fraud, or abuse. Instead, the EAS program must
be continually strengthened and funded at levels so that all
rural communities remain connected to our national aviation
system, and prosper by attracting new businesses who in turn
create jobs.
Therefore, I strongly believe that it is inappropriate to
include the EAS program as part of the committee's
recommendation to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse. Thank you
Mr. Chairman for hearing my views on this very important
matter, and would like my statement submitted for the record.
Bill Shuster.
STATEMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE NICK RAHALL
Mr. Chairman, I ask that my remarks be included to
accompany the Committee's Report.
As much as any Member of Congress, I oppose waste, fraud,
and abuse in government. For that reason, I applaud our
Committee Chairman, Don Young, and our Committee Ranking
Member, Jim Oberstar, for their leadership in exploring
opportunities to ensure that we only dedicate federal resources
to worthwhile programs.
While I agree with almost every aspect of the Committee's
Report, I believe that the Essential Air Service (EAS) program
should be recognized as appropriate and necessary government
spending rather than a program in need of cuts or local match
requirements. EAS is very important to rural airports, which
have seen their air service and ridership cut dramatically over
the years. We need to ensure that rural airports can continue
to operate, and to provide much-needed air service and jobs.
Although the Committee's Report on Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
does not note the Committee's actions at the Markup, it should
be known that Committee Members from both parties agreed to
insert a hardship provision designed to ensure that local
communities will not suffer by forced to operate beyond their
economic means if they are incapable of meeting the local match
requirement.
Subsequently, on the floor of the House of Representatives,
my colleague and friend from the other side of the aisle, Bill
Shuster, led the effort to have the local match requirement
removed altogether from the bill in its final form as it passed
out of our chamber. I applaud Mr. Shuster for his efforts on
behalf of rural air service, and I understand that he shares my
sentiment on the topic of EAS within the Committee's Report.
Earlier this year, Congress provided the airline industry
with almost $3 billion in emergency wartime supplemental
appropriations. However, the small communities of America will
see very little of this money because the airlines will focus
on their service to urban areas.
What is good for airline travel in urban sectors of the
country ought to be good for airline usage throughout the
entire country. We need to preserve air travel throughout rural
America, and the EAS program has proven its worth over the
years. Small communities in over 35 states rely on EAS funding
to help them manage through this time of economic distress at
the state and local levels.
For the reasons, although I agree with the substance of the
Committee's Report, I remain firmly in the belief that the EAS
program is entirely worthwhile and in need of continuing
federal support.
House of Representatives,
Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
Washington, DC, September 2, 2003.
Hon. Jim Nussle,
Chairman, Committee on the Budget,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: Enclosed with this letter is the report
of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs with its findings on
means of eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in spending
programs under the Committee's jurisdiction.
The Committee conducts regular oversight of veterans
programs in accordance with its Oversight Plan for the 108th
Congress. Pursuant to the requirement of the Conference Report
to Accompany the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal
Year 2004, the full Committee held hearings on waste, fraud and
abuse in veterans' programs on May 8 and June 10, 2003. The
topics of the hearings included barring payment of veterans
benefits to fugitive felons, stopping erroneous benefits
payments in the Philippines, improving management of long-term
care for veterans, ensuring that part-time VA physicians meet
their employment obligations, strengthening debt management,
and reducing costs in worker's compensation.
Additionally, the Committee has held hearings on the
findings of the President's Task Force to Improve Health Care
Delivery for our Nation's Veterans, and VA's medical care
collections program. As reflected in the enclosed report, the
Committee has utilized both the U.S. General Accounting Office
and the VA Office of the Inspector General in its oversight and
evaluations of spending programs for veterans.
Much of the potential savings in spending programs for
veterans the Committee report has identified can be
appropriately achieved through improvements in VA program
management, and legislation is not recommended. However, the
Committee has reported legislation discussed in the enclosed
report that would enable VA to significantly increase medical
care collections from nonfederal sources. This legislation,
H.R. 1562, was requested by the Administration and reported
favorably by the Committee, but the House has not acted on it.
The Committee intends to continue its aggressive oversight
of spending programs for veterans to ensure that tax dollars
are efficiently used in the programs under its jurisdiction,
and will continue its efforts to identify the changes in law to
eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. The support of the Committee
on the Budget in these endeavors is most appreciated.
Sincerely,
Christopher H. Smith,
Chairman.
Lane Evans,
Ranking Democratic Member.
Enclosures.
ELIMINATING WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE IN VETERANS' PROGRAMS
Pursuant to section 301 of the Conference Report to
Accompany the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal
Year 2004 (H. Con. Res. 95; H. Rept. 108-71), the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs is transmitting herewith its findings on
means of eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in spending
programs under the Committee's jurisdiction.
ENHANCING MEDICAL CARE COLLECTION AUTHORITY
The Committee is concerned that the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) health care system is seriously under-funded and
unable to meet the demands being placed on it by the health
care needs of enrolled veterans. The VA health care system is
under obvious stress, as increasing enrollment and rising
health care costs have resulted in hundreds of thousands of
veterans being forced to wait months, some even more than a
year, for an initial appointment. VA recently reported in
January 2003 that over 200,000 veterans were waiting six months
or more to be seen in VA primary care. This waiting list has
been reduced, but VA still fails to meet its own access
standards for a very large number of enrolled veterans.
The Committee conducted hearings and other oversight during
this Congress and previous Congresses to identify additional
funding sources and promote management efficiencies to address
the rising demand for VA medical care services. As a
consequence of this oversight, on April 2, 2003, H.R. 1562, the
Veterans Health Care Cost Recovery Act of 2003, was introduced
by Honorable Bob Beauprez; the Committee's Chairman, Honorable
Christopher H. Smith; the Committee's Ranking Member, Honorable
Lane Evans; the Subcommittee on Health's Chairman Honorable Rob
Simmons; and the Subcommittee's Ranking Member, Honorable Ciro
D. Rodriquez. After subcommittee and full committee
consideration, on May 15, 2003, H.R. 1562, as amended, was
ordered reported favorably to the House by unanimous voice
vote. To date, the House has not acted on this bill.
In 1986, in Public Law 99-272, Congress provided VA
authority to collect from third-party insurers of nonservice-
connected veterans receiving VA health care. These funds are
used by VA to supplement appropriated funds to maintain high
quality health care. However, VA is currently unable to collect
fully from the sizeable preferred provider sector, which now
accounts for a major portion of all health plans in the United
States. H.R. 1562, as amended, would enhance the ability of VA
to collect reimbursements from third-party insurers by
clarifying VA's power to recover costs for medical care
provided to veterans at VA facilities covered by preferred
provider organizations and other non-traditional coverage.
Specifically, H.R. 1562, as amended, would deem VA as a
``preferred provider'' for purposes of collection when a payer
has payment arrangements with preferred provider organizations
and a covered veteran receives VA health care under an
equivalent arrangement. This legislation would prevent a third-
party payer from denying or reducing reimbursement to VA solely
because VA does not have a participation agreement with that
third-party payer. Additionally, the legislation would grant
specific authority for VA to recover the cost of providing
medical care to non-veterans from any private health plan.
Under current law, the collections recovered would be deposited
into the Medical Care Collections Fund (MCCF) and treated as
offsets to discretionary spending. Subject to annual
appropriation, VA can spend the money in the MCCF to provide
medical care to veterans.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that under
H.R. 1562, as amended, collections from nonfederal sources
would increase by $111 million in 2004 and $737 million over
the 2004-2008 period. CBO estimates that implementing this
legislation would result in net discretionary savings of $24
million in 2004, and $38 million over the 2004-2008 period,
assuming appropriation of the estimated collections and after
accounting for the typical lag between collections and
spending.
IMPROVING MEDICAL CARE COLLECTIONS
In 1997, Congress gave VA the authority to retain third
party collections it recovered instead of returning the funds
to the U.S. treasury. This authority was requested by the
Department as a part of its 5-year plan to obtain 10 percent of
its funding from third party collections and other revenue
sources. In 1999, the Committee received VA's outsourcing
business plan for health care revenue collection. The plan
involved consolidating certain revenue collection processes
(pre-registration, insurance verification, billing collections,
and customer service) into a ``Consolidated Revenue Unit'' at
the network level. Also, in 1997 VA adopted a new fee schedule
called ``reasonable charge'' authorized by Public Law 105-33,
the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. By November 2000, VHA had
initiated four pilot tests--two in-house and two by contract.
VA also received a Price Waterhouse report with 24 major
recommendations for improving MCCF revenue operations.
In 2001, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) reported
in hearing testimony that for the first time since 1995, VA had
reversed the general decline in its third party collections.
GAO largely attributed the increase to VA's implementation of
the reasonable charges billing system. However, GAO reported
recurring problems, including: (1) VA billing times that were
14 times greater on average than the private sector; (2)
continuing weaknesses in VA's collections information systems;
and (3) a lack of department-wide standardization for
collections. The VA's Inspector General's Office (IG) also
reported problems and weaknesses in a number of areas,
including: (1) determination of veterans' eligibility and
entitlement status; (2) verification and coordination of
patient care with insurance carriers; (3) medical record
documentation of care provided; (4) coding of bills to
insurance carriers; (5) billing of insurance carriers; and (6)
collection of insurance carriers' delinquent accounts.
VA was also mandated by Congress to acquire and implement a
commercial patient financial system. VA is implementing the
Patient Financial Services System project, which is intended to
improve the business process and information technology in
revenue collections. In May of 2002, VA created a new office in
the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the Chief Business
Office, to improve collections. However, VA's compliance with
established policies and procedures for MCCF management
continues to be inconsistent. In his April 1, 2002, to
September 30, 2002, Semiannual Report to Congress, the IG
reported that deficiencies in the collections system result
from the inability to properly bill for services.
The VA's budget proposal for fiscal year 2003 proposed a
new outsourcing business plan to reconfigure the revenue
collection program. However, of the four network pilot tests,
only one produced an outsourcing contract model. VA's budget
proposal for fiscal year 2004 indicated VA had made
considerable progress in executing its new business plan. The
new plan would reconfigure the revenue collection program to
include both in-house and contract models.
MCCF collections have shown a steady improvement since
fiscal year 2000. Actual collections from third parties have
been: $394 million for fiscal year 2000; $540 million for
fiscal year 2001; and $690 million for fiscal year 2002.
Projected collections are $760 million for fiscal year 2003.
On May 7, 2003, the Subcommittee on Oversight and
Investigations held its third oversight hearing on third-party
collections and received an update from GAO on VA's third-party
collections since September of 2001. GAO also provided an
overview of continuing operational problems in collections for
fiscal year 2002, including missed billing opportunities,
insufficient documentation of services for billing and coding
staff, insufficient pursuit of accounts receivable, and
unidentified insurance for some patients.
The Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Honorable Leo S.
Mackay also testified at the May 7, 2003, hearing about VA's
efforts to improve third party collections. He informed the
Subcommittee that the strategies being pursued include
establishment of health care industry based performance and
operational metrics, technology enhancements and integration of
proven business approaches, including establishment of
centralized revenue operations centers. He further stated that
VA is developing a demonstration project to fully outsource the
revenue process functions at a VA Medical Center to test the
feasibility of this approach to enhancing revenue. The
Committee will conduct oversight of the demonstrations
projects.
STRENGTHENING DEBT MANAGEMENT
According to the IG's Report of the Audit of the Department
of Veterans Affairs Consolidated Financial Statements for
Fiscal Years 2002 and 2001, Report No. 02-0163847, January 23,
2003, as of December 2002, debts owed to the VA totaled $3
billion. The majority of these (52 percent) were active vendee
loans. The debts owed to the VA are derived from the payment of
home loan guaranties; direct home loans; life insurance loans;
Medical Care Collections Fund receivables; and compensation,
pension, and educational benefits overpayments.
The IG made several recommendations to the Department
concerning its debt management activities. During his testimony
on May 8, 2003, Honorable Richard Griffin, VA Inspector
General, reported that the Strategic Plan for 2003-2008 shows
that VA is addressing his recommendations to be more aggressive
in collecting debts; improve debt avoidance practices;
streamline and improve quality and uniformity of debt waiver
decisions. The IG also stressed that debt management activities
could be improved.
The Committee will continue its oversight and working with
VA to ensure that the IG's recommendations are implemented.
RESTRUCTURING CAPITAL ASSETS
As a result of improved technologies, new treatments and
national changes in practice patterns of health care
professionals, VA has shifted its focus from inpatient to
outpatient care. This shift resulted in many instances of
shortened lengths of stay when hospitalization is required and
established needs for many new outpatient facilities.
Consequently, many structures formerly used for inpatient care
have been converted for new uses. However, the vacant space
that cannot be converted for effective uses has become a
significant burden and waste of VA resources that could be used
for direct health care for veterans.
GAO concluded in 1999 that VA's existing infrastructure
could be the biggest obstacle confronting its ongoing
transformation efforts. During a hearing before the
Subcommittee on Health in 1999, GAO pointed out that although
VA was addressing some realignment issues, it did not have a
plan in place to identify buildings that were no longer needed
to meet veterans' health care needs. GAO recommended that VA
develop a market-based plan for restructuring its delivery of
health care in order to reduce funds spent on underutilized or
inefficient buildings. In turn, those funds could be reinvested
to better serve veterans' needs by placing health care
resources closer to veterans' homes.
In addition, GAO reported that most delivery locations had
mission-critical buildings that VA considers functionally
obsolete. The functional obsolescence included inpatient rooms
that failed to meet contemporary standards for patient privacy;
outpatient clinics with too few examination rooms; and
buildings with life safety concerns.
In 1999, based on recommendations and actions of the
Committee, VA began an effort to realign its capital assets,
primarily buildings, to better serve veterans' needs as well as
institute other needed efficiencies. The Capital Asset
Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) initiative includes:
(1) assessing a target population's needs; (2) evaluating the
capacity of existing assets; (3) identifying any performance
gaps (excesses or deficiencies); (4) estimating assets' life
cycle costs; and (5) comparing such costs to other alternatives
for meeting the target population's needs. Alternatives to be
considered included: (1) partnering with other public or
private providers; (2) purchasing care from other providers;
(3) replacing obsolete assets with modern ones; and (4)
consolidating servicesduplicated at multiple locations serving
the same market. CARES is the most ambitious such effort undertaken by
VA.
Recent data from VA's CARES office provided an overview of
VA facilities as follows: VA owns 5,044 buildings and 118.5
million square feet. The average age of VA buildings is 50.4
years. The replacement life cycle at the current rate of
investment is 155 years. VA operates 162 hospitals, 677
community-based outpatient clinics, 137 nursing home units and
43 domiciliaries.
During the CARES process, VA has projected veterans' demand
for acute health care services through fiscal year 2022,
evaluated available capacity at its existing delivery
locations, and targeted geographic areas where alternative
delivery strategies might allow VA to operate more efficiently
and effectively while ensuring access consistent with its
standards for travel time. Efficiencies through economies of
scale have been identified in 30 geographic areas where two or
more major health care delivery sites were located in close
proximity and or provided duplicative inpatient and outpatient
health care services. Also, six high priority collocations of
regional benefits offices have been proposed. VA has also
identified more than 70 opportunities for partnering with DOD
to better align the infrastructure of both agencies. Twenty-one
of the collaborations or joint ventures with DOD are considered
high priority. Four years after GAO recommended the formation
of CARES, VA expects to issue its final plans by the end of
2003.
An exemplary model of public/private partnering supported
by the Committee is proposed at the site of the former
Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado. This multi-
acre tract was deeded by the federal government to the
University of Colorado to enable it to consolidate one of the
largest regional medical, educational and biomedical research
complexes in the country. Discussions are underway between VA
and DOD to negotiate a joint venture to construct and staff a
Regional Federal Medical Center, sharing resources, services
and research with the University of Colorado at that site. H.R.
116, as amended, was reported by the Committee on July 14,
2003, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in
consultation with the Secretary of Defense, to construct,
lease, or modify major medical facilities at the site of the
former Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, Aurora, Colorado.
The Committee will continue to monitor carefully the
progress of CARES and expects to hold a public hearing after
the plan has been completed.
IMPROVING EFFICIENCY AND ACCESS THROUGH VA-DOD SHARING
For approximately twenty years, the Committee has promoted
the sharing of health care resources between the Departments of
Veterans Affairs and Defense (DOD). The goal of sharing between
the two Departments is to improve the quality of health care
for VA and DOD beneficiaries and to reduce costs that exist in
both Departments. By collaborating, the two Departments can
improve access to care and reduce the overall costs of
furnishing that care to both veterans and the military
beneficiary population.
In 1982, Congress enacted Public Law 97-174, (the Sharing
Act) to foster more effective sharing of health care resources
between VA and DOD. The law was enacted not only to remove
legal barriers, but also to provide incentives for military and
VA health care facilities to engage in health resources sharing
through local agreements, joint ventures, national sharing
initiatives, and other collaborative efforts pointed to better
and more efficient use of Federal health care resources. The
Sharing Act provides broad authority to both VA and DOD to
share health resources across the spectrum of health care and
health-related activities. With advent of the Sharing Act, a
flurry of VA-DOD sharing activity occurred, and hundreds of
agreements were executed among military and VA medical centers
and their clinics. However, over the succeeding years, sharing
waned as military health care shifted from a facilities-based
system to the TRICARE program that relies on private health
care networks.
On July 27, 2001, Chairman Smith introduced H.R. 2667, the
Department of Defense-Department of Veterans Affairs Health
Resources Access Improvement Act of 2001. H.R. 2667 sought to
establish a health care facilities sharing demonstration
project in keeping with the intent of the original legislation
for VA-DOD sharing. Under the bill, five qualifying sites would
be selected for participation in a demonstration project. The
purpose of the demonstration project was to identify and
measure the advantages of sharing and work through the
challenges of the two systems becoming true partners in health
care delivery. The two Departments' medical information systems
are incompatible, but this legislation would have created a
framework for greater technology compatibility. By improving
such communication, the Departments could better ensure
continuity of care, equality of access, uniform quality of
service and seamless transmission of data. Most of the original
concepts and objectives of H.R. 2667 were incorporated in
Subtitle VII of Public Law 107-314, the Bob Stump National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003.
On March 7, 2002, the Subcommittee on Health and the
Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel
held a joint hearing to examine collaboration and health
resources sharing by the two Departments, including
consideration of H.R. 2667. Chairman Smith testified to urge
both subcommittees to aggressively increase resource sharing
between these two health care systems. Defense Under Secretary
David S. Chu assured the Committees that he and VA Deputy
Secretary Mackay share a common vision of quality health care
for the men and women serving our country, their families, and
those that have served. According to Under Secretary Chu, the
cooperative efforts of DOD and VA are focused on a proactive
partnership that meets the missions of both agencies while
benefiting the servicemember, veteran and taxpayer with new
initiatives and increased efficiency.
On June 3 and June 17, 2003, the Committee held hearings to
receive the Final Report of the President's Task Force to
Improve Health Care Delivery for our Nation's Veterans (PTF).
One of the four organizing principles which this task force
used in developing recommendations was that committed
leadership from VA and DOD is essential to achieve VA-DOD
collaboration to improve health care for veterans and military
retirees. The PTF found that VA and DOD should maximize the use
of resources and infrastructurethat each Department currently
retains individually. Dr. Gail Wilensky, Co-Chair of the PTF, stated in
her June 3, 2003, testimony, ``The goal of improved collaboration
between VA and DOD is not collaboration for the sake of collaboration,
but rather that, through such activity, VA and DOD can improve timely
access to quality health care and reduce the overall costs of
furnishing services.''
H.R. 1911, to amend title 38, United States Code, to
enhance cooperation and the sharing of resources between the
Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense,
introduced by Honorable John Boozman, was passed by the House
on May 21, 2003, and would establish a DOD-VA Joint Executive
Committee to: (1) expand oversight of collaborative efforts
beyond health care issues to include benefits and other areas
as determined by the co-chairs; and (2) promote increased
resource sharing.
Existing law allows each Department to determine
individually the number of employees each would designate to
support the committee, but requires each one to share equally
in the cost, notwithstanding parity in the numbers. It also
requires a permanent staff be assigned to the committee. This
bill would delete these personnel requirements, thereby
enhancing the flexibility of each Department to use its
personnel in the most efficient manner possible, while at the
same time authorizing the establishment of subordinate
committees and work groups as deemed appropriate by the co-
chairs.
Existing law specifically authorizes the recommendations of
the committee for sharing of resources to improve access,
quality, and cost effectiveness. Under H.R. 1911, the committee
would also identify changes in policies to improve services,
efficiencies, and opportunities for collaboration for delivery
of benefits and services to beneficiaries of both Departments.
According to CBO, this bill would have a negligible cost.
Although CBO did not project any cost savings in its reported
estimate, the Committee expects that cost savings would result
from the enactment of this bill, as it would further promote
the sharing between VA and DOD and create new methods by which
the two Departments would share resources and eliminate
duplicate activities. The substance of H.R. 1911 was
incorporated into H.R. 1588, the National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2004, which the House passed on May 22,
2003.
MANAGING LONG-TERM CARE FOR VETERANS
In 1999, Public Law 106-117, the Veterans' Millennium
Health Care and Benefits Act, was enacted to ensure VA better
meets the needs of its aging patient population. The Act
required VA for the first time to provide nursing home care and
certain non-institutional long-term care services to eligible
veterans. Some studies have shown that appropriate use of case
management in long-term care can reduce both the number and the
intensity of expensive acute care hospitalizations. Due to
recent reports the Committee has received from VA, the
Committee is concerned about VA's ability to meet the nursing
home care needs of veterans in accordance with the law,
particularly considering the World War II generation's
increasing needs for long-term care.
At the May 8, 2003, Committee hearing on waste, fraud, and
abuse, Members raised issues related to VA's role in meeting
the long-term health care needs of veterans. On May 22, 2003,
the Subcommittee on Health held a follow-up hearing to examine
existing VA long-term care programs and expenditures and
appraise VA's strategy for addressing future long-term care
needs of aging and disabled veterans.
To better meet its oversight responsibilities in this area,
the Committee requested that GAO provide the Committee with a
report on VA's implementation of the Millennium Act, including
analysis of current trends and forecasts in nursing home
utilization and long-term care expenditures by the Department.
The Committee also asked GAO to examine VA's management of its
in-house nursing home programs to improve efficiency and assure
appropriate utilization and access in consonance with the
Millennium Act.
GAO will examine the use of nursing homes VA operates, as
well as the contract care it purchased between fiscal years
1998 and 2002. The scope of the study will include examining
the expenditures VA incurred to provide nursing home care to
these veterans, the extent of the use of nursing homes and how
their expenditures have varied by VA's 21 health care networks,
and the degree to which policy differs among VA's networks on
the type and extent of nursing home care provided to veterans.
GAO has agreed to complete its work and issue a report to the
Committee by the fall of 2003. This next report will provide
the Committee with a basis for further oversight of VA long-
term care programs.
REDUCING COSTS IN WORKER'S COMPENSATION
VHA has 214,000 employees and is the largest health care
system in the United States. Under the Federal Employees
Compensation Program, employees are eligible for Worker's
Compensation Program benefit payments for lost wages and
medical treatment for the specific disability associated with a
work-related injury.
In 1998, the IG audited VA's Federal Employee Compensation
Act program and concluded the program was not effectively
managed. Audit of VA's Worker's Compensation Program Cost,
Report No. 8D2-G01-067, July 1, 1998. The IG estimated VA could
reduce future payments by $247 million, by returning to work
current claimants who are no longer disabled.
In order to decrease program liability, VA issued Directive
7700 on July 8, 1998, to ensure a safe and healthy workplace
for VA employees, and VHA issued specific related directives.
Also, the VA's Office of Occupational Safety and Health
initiated a case management and injury prevention project
designed to reduce compensation costs and the rate of new
compensation claims.
The IG Audit of High-Risk Areas in the Veterans Health
Administration's Workers' Compensation, Report No. 99-00046,
December 21, 1999, found that the lack of effective case
management practices placed the Department at risk for program
abuse, fraud, and unnecessary costs. In April 1999, the IG
provided VA with a handbook for ``VA Facility Workers
Compensation Program Case Management and Fraud Detection.'' By
the end of FY 1999, Office of Workers Compensation Program
costs had decreased by 1.6 percent to about $130 million.
However, since that time costs haveincreased to approximately
$151 million, which caused the IG to begin a follow-up audit.
On May 8, 2003, the IG in testimony before the Committee
on Veterans' Affairs stated, ``* * * VA continues to be at risk
for program abuse, fraud, and unnecessary costs because prior
IG program recommendations have not been fully implemented.''
At the urging of the Committee, the Office of Inspector General
is conducting further audits of the Workers' Compensation
Program. No legislation is recommended by the Department to
address this issue.
IMPROVING MANAGEMENT OF PART-TIME PHYSICIANS
VA currently employs 5,129 part-time physicians at a
combined salary of $400 million with poor or no accountability
as to much of their time and attendance. Problems with part-
time physician time and attendance have frequently been
reported by the IG Combined Assessment Program. In some
instances, the affiliated medical school determines assignments
and work schedules for all the physicians on the VA payroll in
violation of VA policy.
At the May 8, 2003, Committee hearing, the IG also
testified concerning the findings in the Audit of the Veterans
Health Administration's Part-Time Physician Time and
Attendance, Report No. 02-001339-85, April 23, 2003. The IG
testified that the audit found that the VHA's management
controls were not effective in ensuring that part-time
physicians met their employment obligations and that physician
staffing was not aligned properly with workload requirements.
The IG further testified that some VA medical centers do not
keep duty schedules and timekeepers do not know which
physicians are supposed to be on duty.
The IG provided several examples that showed part-time
physicians were not working the hours established in their VA
appointments and as a result part-time physicians were not
meeting their employment obligations to VA. Based on a review
at five VA medical centers, the audit specifically found:
1. There was no documented evidence of any patient care
workload (patient encounters, operating room time, progress
notes, physician orders, or network log times) for 33 percent
of the time in a 14-day review, where 223 part-time physicians
were scheduled for at least four hours of duty.
2. Part-time physicians did not complete a minimal amount
of patient care time (at least one hour in surgery or at least
two progress notes, doctors orders, or encounters per hour
worked) on 53 percent of days the physicians were scheduled to
work at least four hours.
3. Surgeons spent 38 percent of their available time on
patient care obligations. Of the 153 surgeons reviewed, 70
spent less than 25 percent of their available time in direct
patient care.
4. Part-time surgeons at six VA medical centers reviewed
were performing surgery at the affiliated medical schools
during their VA tours of duty.
5. Attending physicians at four VA medical centers reviewed
were not present to supervise the residents' treatment of
patients in six of 29 clinics reviewed.
The Committee was advised that the IG had provided the
Under Secretary for Health with recommendations for corrective
actions. Specifically, the IG recommended that improvements
include quarterly audits of physician time and attendance. The
Under Secretary generally agreed with the recommendations.
The Committee plans to monitor this matter through
oversight hearings and briefings with VA officials to ensure
that these recommendations are fully implemented.
IMPROVING MANAGEMENT OF CONTRACTING, PROCUREMENT
AND ACQUISTION
The IG's testimony at the May 8 2003, hearing indicated the
existence of ineffective management practices involving the
procurement of health care items and contracting for health
care services or resources, especially when service contracts
involved an affiliated institution as a party. An IG audit of
procurement practices found VA facilities often failed to use
VA national purchasing or Federal Supply Service options, and
often chose less cost-efficient options such as local
procurement. Studies advocate a more centralized focus for the
purchase of health care items, but too often this course of
action is not followed because of a lack of VA procurement
oversight.
The IG also commented on the lack of rigor in contracting
for health care resources, noting an absence of evidence that
VA had assessed its actual needs or that the contract was in
the Government's best interests. The IG noted the potential
conflict of interest in the general process. Other IG concerns
involved construction contracting, purchase card activities,
and inventory management--all of which lack adequate oversight
at critical points in their respective processes. On June 10,
2003, at the Committee's second hearing on waste, fraud and
abuse, Deputy Secretary Mackay acknowledged that problems exist
with VA's report to Congress regarding contracts for services
other than scarce medical specialties. The Committee believes
that improved management of contracting, procurement and
acquisitions has the potential for considerable savings and the
Committee intends to conduct further oversight of these areas.
BARRING BENEFITS FOR FUGITIVE FELONS
In 1996, Congress enacted Public Law 104-193, which barred
fugitive felons from receiving Supplemental Security Insurance
from the Social Security Administration and food stamps from
the Department of Agriculture. The intent of the law was to
discontinue the means of federal support that allow fugitive
felons to continue to flee. However, the law did not prevent a
fugitive felon who was a veteran from receiving benefits from
VA.
In 2001, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs reported H.R.
1291, as amended, to prohibit veterans who are fugitives from
receiving benefits from VA. The bill became Public Law 107-103.
Under the law, a fugitive felon is defined as fleeing to avoid
prosecution, or custody or confinement after conviction, for an
offense or an attempt to commit an offense which is a felony
under the laws of the place from which the veteran flees. The
benefits barred include those forservice-connected
disabilities; dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving
spouses of service-connected veterans; nonservice-connected disability/
death pension; hospital, nursing home, domiciliary and outpatient care;
insurance; educational entitlements; training and rehabilitation
benefits for veterans with service-connected disabilities; and housing
and small business loans.
Public Law 107-103 requires the Secretary to furnish to any
Federal, State, or local law enforcement official in specific
circumstances and upon written request the most current address
maintained by the Secretary of a person who is eligible for a
VA benefit. The Secretary is also required to enter into
memoranda of understanding with Federal law enforcement
agencies and may enter into agreements with State and local law
enforcement agencies for purposes of furnishing information to
such agencies.
On May 8, 2003, the IG testified before the Committee
efforts to identify fugitive felons. In response to Public Law
107-103, the IG has established a fugitive felon program to
identify VA benefits recipients and VA employees who are
fugitives from justice. Mr. Griffin provided details of the
program:
The program consists of conducting computerized matches
between fugitive felon files of law enforcement
organizations and VA benefit and personnel records.
Once a veteran or employee is identified as a fugitive,
information on the individual is provided to the law
enforcement organization responsible for serving the
warrant to assist in apprehension. Fugitive information
is then provided to VA so that benefits may be
suspended and to initiate recovery action for any
overpayments. Based on our pilot study and matches
conducted to date, I anticipate that between 1 and 2
percent of all fugitive felony warrants submitted will
involve VA beneficiaries.
Based on computer matches to date, the IG has projected
savings related to the identification of improper and erroneous
payments to exceed $209 million annually. The IG has also
completed memoranda of understanding or agreements with the
U.S. Marshals Service, the States of California and New York,
and the National Crime Information Center. These data matching
efforts have already identified more than 11,000 potential
fugitive beneficiaries and VA employees. The Committee intends
to monitor and encourage the implementation of the IG's
fugitive felon program through oversight hearings and briefings
with VA officials. No further legislative action is recommended
by the Department to address this issue.
STOPPING ERRONEOUS BENEFITS PAYMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES
The VA Regional Office in Manila, Republic of the
Philippines, has long struggled with fraudulent activity due to
a combination of factors, including the relatively large amount
of VA payments, poverty and a lack of economic opportunity for
indigenous persons. The two main types of cases involve
deceased payees and false claims. In April 2001, the IG
instituted a ``Philippines Benefit Review'' at the request of
the Manila Regional Office, which was seeking assistance in
combating fraud associated with false claims.
During the six-week operational phase of the review, the
team conducted 1,134 interviews and 2,391 fingerprint
comparisons, reviewed 2,600 files, took 1,100 digital
photographs, initiated nine criminal cases, and obtained one
search warrant. Five hundred ninety-four beneficiaries were
identified for suspension or termination of benefits. Criminal
investigations initiated during the review were turned over to
the Philippines National Police.
At the May 8, 2003, Committee hearing, the IG testified on
the results of the benefits review, and indicated that his
office was looking at other areas outside the continental
United States where large numbers of veterans and dependents
reside. According to the IG, 78,000 benefits recipients outside
the continental United States are receiving approximately $49
million a month in benefits, including $2.9 million to 5,100
veterans and other beneficiaries in Germany, and $28 million to
42,000 veterans and other beneficiaries in Puerto Rico.
To date, the Philippines Benefit Review has resulted in
cost savings to VA of approximately $2.5 million in
overpayments, and a projected 5-year cost avoidance of over $21
million. The Committee believes that these investigations of
fraud outside the continental United States should be
aggressively pursued and intends to continue its oversight of
them. No legislative action is recommended by the Department to
address this issue.
IMPROVING VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION DATA
VA's Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program
provides services and assistance necessary to enable veterans
with service-connected disabilities to become employable and
obtain suitable employment. This program also helps certain
veterans with service-connected disabilities achieve functional
independence in daily activities. Program performance against
these outcomes is measured by the rehabilitation rate, which is
defined as the number of veterans who were rehabilitated during
a period of time compared to the total number that left the
program during that period. VA's Annual Accountability Report
for FY 2000 showed the rehabilitation rate for the year was 65
percent, which exceeded the goal of 60 percent.
On February 6, 2003, the Office of Inspector General
released a report, Accuracy of VA Data Used to Compute the
Rehabilitation Rate for Fiscal Year 2000, Report No. 01-01613-
52, that showed the data used to compute the rehabilitation
rate for fiscal year 2000 was not accurate. The counseling,
evaluation and rehabilitation folders of 94 randomly selected
veterans were reviewed for fiscal year 2000. The audit revealed
that 7 of the 94 veterans left the program during prior or
subsequent years and should not have been included in the
computation of the rehabilitation rate that fiscal year. Of the
remaining veterans in the sample, 57 were classified as
rehabilitated and 30 were classified as discontinued. Based on
the evidence in the veterans' folders, the IG determined that
VA regional office personnel incorrectly classified 15 of 57
veterans as rehabilitated. However, no errors occurred among
the 30 decisions to classify veterans as discontinued. VA
officials could not readily explain the reasons for the
discrepancies. They speculated that pressure to achieve the
performance measure target for therehabilitation rate may have
influenced the inappropriate decisions to declare veterans
rehabilitated.
The IG could not estimate the actual rehabilitation rate
the program achieved for fiscal year 2000, because regional
office personnel did not timely classify veterans as
rehabilitated or discontinued. As a result, an unknown number
of veterans were improperly excluded from the total number of
veterans who left the program during the year. Because of the
significant discrepancies identified, the IG could not attest
to the accuracy of the rehabilitation rate included in VA's
Annual Accountability Report for FY 2000.
The IG recommended additional training for regional office
personnel who make classification decisions and improved
supervisor accountability. Additionally, the IG recommended
strengthened oversight of VA regional office personnel to
ensure that classification decisions are timely and accurate.
The Under Secretary for Benefits concurred with the IG's
recommendations and provided acceptable implementation plans.
Other accuracy problems in VA's vocational rehabilitation
program have also been identified. On January 31, 2003, the VA
released its FY 2002 Performance and Accountability Report.
Part of this report addressed accuracy of outcome decisions and
accuracy of evaluation and planning services for veterans
applying for vocational rehabilitation. In 2002, program
managers conducted their own quality reviews on 3,243
vocational rehabilitation cases. The survey found a 19 percent
error rate in rehabilitation rate outcome decisions.
The IG report did not estimate entitlement, administrative,
or cost implications of VA errors that resulted in an
overstated vocational rehabilitation rate. No legislative
action is recommended by the Department. The Committee expects
to hold a public hearing to further examine this matter and
provide additional oversight.
REDUCING ERRORS IN EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE CLAIMS
The VA's FY 2002 Performance and Accountability Report
noted quality assurance deficiencies in education claims. Of
the 1,541 cases reviewed, 100 had payment errors and 340 had
service errors (some cases had more than one service error).
Payment errors mean the monthly educational assistance
allowances of beneficiaries are being underpaid or overpaid.
Service errors largely deal with eligibility and entitlement
determinations. Within the category of service errors,
development and due process notification errors were 21 and 22
percent, respectively. The Committee finds these error rates
unacceptable. For 2001 and 2002, payment accuracy remained
virtually the same, 92.0 percent and 92.6 percent,
respectively. The report noted that VA must continue periodic
refresher training in these areas until improvement is shown.
The accountability and performance report also noted
workforce challenges. In fiscal year 2002, the VA Education
Service employed 864 Full-Time Equivalent Employees (FTEE) in
administering its programs for about 465,000 veterans, active-
duty servicemembers, reservists, and survivors/dependents.
About 50 percent of the education adjudicators were trainees at
the beginning of fiscal year 2002, although turnover decreased
during the year. The VA Education Service is developing
standardized training for its employees. The first phase,
covering claims processing tasks, will be completed in the
summer of 2003.
The Committee notes that the report did not estimate the
amount that could be saved by reduction of payment errors in
education claims. However, the report showed that VA obligated
$1.77 billion in this program during fiscal year 2002 and the
Committee believes that the savings could be substantial. The
Committee plans continued close oversight of the Department's
efforts to reduce error rates in its educational assistance
claims. No legislative action is recommended by the Department
to address this issue.
PREVENTING PENSION OVERPAYMENTS
VA's improved pension program provides financial assistance
based upon need to certain wartime veterans with disabilities
not related to military service. This needs-based program has
an income limitation, and it is designed to pay benefits on a
graduated scale whereby the person with the least amount of
income, and therefore with the greater need, receives the
greater amount of pension. There are income exclusions in
determining a person's income for pension purposes, including
the exclusion of certain unreimbursed medical expenses. At the
request of the Under Secretary for Benefits, the IG conducted
an audit of beneficiaries receiving increased benefits as a
result of unreimbursed medical expense claims. The objectives
were to: (1) evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of
Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) procedures for
verification of these claims; (2) identify the extent of
unsupported claims and processing errors; (3) determine the
extent of any potential program fraud; and (4) determine causes
and identify solutions for deficiencies.
During fiscal year 2001, VA paid $2.9 billion in pension
benefits to 507,149 veterans and their survivors. On September
30, 2002, the Office of Inspector General released a report,
Audit of Veterans Benefits Administration Benefit Payments
Involving Unreimbursed Medical Expense Claims, Report No. 00-
00061-169. The audit found that some pension beneficiaries are
inappropriately submitting unreimbursed medical expense claims,
significantly increasing the level of benefit payments. The IG
reported that processing errors and potential program fraud
have occurred because regional offices are not effectively
managing the processing of these claims.
Erroneous benefit payments occurred due to the following:
Overpayments
1. Medicare (Part B) premiums expenses were claimed, but
not actually paid.
2. Income and net worth were not properly reported.
3. Continuing Medical Expense Deductions--expenses allowed
prospectively if they are recurring or reasonably predictable
(i.e., nursing home fees)--were not properly adjusted to
reflect actual lower costs.
4. Claimed nursing home costs were not reduced for Medicaid
reimbursements.
5. Other processing errors occurred because claims were not
fully developed or mathematical errors were made in computing
them.
Underpayments
1. Medicare (Part B) premiums paid were not properly
claimed or adjusted by VBA to reflect increases in annual
expenses.
2. Claims were not fully developed or mathematical errors
were made in computing claim amounts.
Potential Program Fraud
1. Income, net worth or unreimbursed medical expenses were
not properly reported.
2. Claims were for expenses that had already been
reimbursed.
3. Veterans' deaths were not timely reported to VA, and not
all pension checks were returned.
According to the IG, processing errors and potential
program fraud annually result in overpayments of up to $124.7
million and underpayments of up to $19.9 million. The Under
Secretary for Benefits provided acceptable implementation plans
to the IG. The Committee will continue oversight of the VA
pension program to ensure the issues of processing errors and
program fraud are adequately addressed. No legislative action
is recommended by the Department to address these issues.
IMPROVING CAPABILITY OF THE OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL
The Committee notes that the VA Office of Inspector General
is the smallest of the statutory Inspectors General relative to
the size of the parent agency. The IG has a proven record
resulting in savings for the VA by elimination of waste, fraud,
abuse and management inefficiencies by finding meaningful cost
avoidance opportunities. For every dollar invested in the IG,
the Department realizes savings or cost avoidance estimated at
thirty dollars. Committee efforts resulted in increased IG
capabilities, with an additional 92 FTEE authorized in 2003,
and should result in annual savings of over $180 million VA-
wide.
House of Representatives,
Committee on Ways and Means,
Washington, DC, September 9, 2003.
Hon. Jim Nussle,
Chairman, Committee on the Budget,
309 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Nussle: As required by the Conference Report
accompanying the budget resolution for fiscal year 2004, and in
response to your letter dated May 20, 2003, this letter is
intended to discuss waste, fraud, and abuse identified within
the jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means. The
Committee strongly believes that it has an important
responsibility to ensure that all government services are
provided efficiently, accurately, and honestly. Too often,
revenues collected from taxpayers are misused and poorly
handled. We have a responsibility to all Americans to work to
minimize this waste, fraud and abuse.
The Committee has made significant progress during the
108th Congress both to identify and eliminate waste, fraud, and
abuse. This includes holding six hearings and favorably
reporting legislation.
Hearings
The Committee held a hearing on July 17th to investigate
the issue of waste, fraud, and abuse in programs under the
Committee's jurisdiction. At that hearing, we received
testimony from seven witnesses including the U.S. General
Accounting Office (GAO) Comptroller General, witnesses from the
U.S. Department of Justice, Social Security Administration
(SSA), and Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as well as three
outside experts.
In addition, various Subcommittees have held hearings
during this Congress to examine specific instances of waste,
fraud, and abuse. On February 27th, the Subcommittee on Social
Security held a hearing on H.R. 743, the ``Social Security
Protection Act of 2003,'' a bill introduced by Chairman Shaw to
protect individuals from benefit misuse by representative
payees and to eliminate various instances of waste, fraud, and
abuse in Social Security programs. On July 10th, the
Subcommittee on Social Security held a hearing on the use and
misuse of Social Security numbers and examined how criminals
commit identity theft and perpetrate fraud by misappropriating
Social Security numbers.
On June 19th, the Subcommittee on Human Resources and the
Subcommittee on Oversight held a joint hearing on Unemployment
Compensation (UC) fraud and abuse issues, specifically focusing
on underpayment of State unemployment taxes through a process
known as ``SUTA dumping.'' In addition, in response to a
request from Subcommittee on Human Resources Chairman Herger, a
July 2003 GAO report detailed ongoing Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) residency violations and possible measures to
address this problem. Between 1997 and 2001, SSA detected
overpayments of $118 million attributable to residency
violations.
The Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on February 13th
on Medicare Regulatory and Contracting Reform. Regulatory
reform reduces waste, fraud, and abuse by providing regulatory
relief to healthcare providers and modernizing Medicare's
contracting processes. On March 4th, the Subcommittee on Health
held a hearing on the recommendations from the Medicare Payment
Advisory Commission, many of which are cost-saving proposals.
Legislative Action
This year, the Committee has taken legislative action on a
number of measures to protect taxpayer money.
On February 13th, the House passed H.R. 4, the ``Personal
Responsibility, Work, and Family Promotion Act of 2003.'' This
welfare reform bill protects against waste, fraud, and abuse by
making better use of data and other resources. A provision
allowing all States access to the National Directory of New
Hires database for purposes of more effectively providing
unemployment benefits would save $70 million over 10 years.
Another provision increasing the share of SSI eligibility
determinations subject to reevaluation would save an additional
$1.4 billion over 10 years.
On March 13th, the Committee reported H.R. 743, the
``Social Security Protection Act of 2003.'' This bill, passed
by the House on April 2nd, reduces waste, fraud, and abuse by
denying Social Security benefits to fugitive felons and parole
violators and expanding the SSA's ability to punish and deter
perpetrators of fraud through new civil monetary penalties. In
addition, the bill would close the loophole that allows some
government workers to avoid the Government Pension Offset among
other provisions. The Congressional Budget Office estimates
that H.R. 743 would save $655 million over 10 years.
On April 2nd, the Committee reported H.R. 810, the
``Medicare Regulatory and Contracting Reform Act of 2003.''
This bill would reduce waste, fraud, and abuse by streamlining
the regulatory bureaucracy in the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) to create a more collaborative working
relationship between providers, beneficiaries, and CMS.
Finally, on June 27th the House passed H.R. 1, the
``Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2003''
which would reduce waste, fraud, and abuse by $31 billion over
the next 10 years. This legislation reforms the Medicare
secondary payor system to halt improper billing practices,
fixes the Medicare payment system for outpatient prescription
drugs, and subjects payment for durable medical equipment and
off-the-shelf orthotics to competitive bidding.
Identified Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
Through our hearings, the Committee has identified the
following examples of waste, fraud, and abuse in programs under
our jurisdiction.
Social Security: In addition to enacting H.R. 743, the
``Social Security Protection Act of 2003,'' as described above,
the Committee also believes that Congress could reduce waste,
fraud, and abuse in the Disability Insurance (DI) program and
the SSI program by fully funding Continuing Disability Reviews
(CDRs) and SSI non-disability redeterminations through the
discretionary appropriations process. These reviews allow the
SSA to cease benefits for individuals who no longer meet
eligibility criteria. The SSA estimates that the DI trust funds
save up to $9 for each $1 invested in a CDR and that $7 in
general revenue savings results from every $1 invested in SSI
redeterminations. Finally, the Committee will continue to
pursue legislation to curtail the misuse of Social Security
numbers.
Human Resources: As described above, enacting H.R. 4, the
``Personal Responsibility, Work, and Family Promotion Act of
2003'', would reduce waste, fraud, and abuse by $1.4 billion
over the next 10 years. The Committee also is concerned about
continuing waste, fraud, and abuse in the SSI and UC programs.
The SSA Inspector General testified on July 17th that
overpayments in the SSI program totaled an estimated $2 billion
in fiscal year 2002 alone. Similarly, written testimony
submitted by the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of
Labor highlighted an estimated $3.4 billion in unemployment
benefit overpayments in fiscal year 2002 as an area of concern.
Tax Policy: The Committee is concerned about tax
noncompliance problems involving individual and corporate
taxpayers. At the Committee's July 17th hearing, numerous
examples of noncompliance were discussed. The Committee
examined the IRS's efforts to improve its identification of
specific taxpayer groups considered ``high risk'' as well as
the IRS's plans to develop audit strategies to better target
known and likely abuses in our tax system. Also at the hearing,
the Committee discussed the benefits of tax simplification. The
Committee and its Subcommittee on Oversight will continue to
monitor IRS's efforts in this regard and develop legislation to
address tax noncompliance as necessary.
Medicare: As described above, enacting H.R. 1, the
``Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2003'',
as passed by the House, would reduce waste, fraud, and abuse by
over $31 billion during the next 10 years.
The Committee on Ways and Means will continue to pursue
opportunities to identify and reduce waste, fraud, and abuse
and work to improve the efficiency and fairness of the tax code
and all programs under the Committee's jurisdiction.
Best regards,
Bill Thomas,
Chairman.