[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 22 (Friday, February 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H1162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE GOLDEN GRAB AWARD

  (Mr. DINGELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, for more than a decade I had the honor of 
chairing the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. That 
subcommittee regularly exposed waste, fraud, and abuse committed at the 
taxpayer's expense. We found defense contractors charging $600 for 
toilet seats, and billing the Government for the expense of boarding 
dogs. Environmental contractors who were supposed to clean toxic waste 
sites were instead wasting taxpayer money on lavish parties, reindeer 
suits, and clown costumes. Universities used Federal research dollars 
to pay for yachts and 19th century Italian fruitwood commodes. The 
Nation's Governors were baldly raiding Medicaid funds to build prisons, 
pave roads, or cut their own deficits.
  The experience of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee 
teaches us that behind almost every wasteful Government project, 
questionable Government contract, or skewed Government regulation 
stands a long line of interests, palms extended. The entertainment 
industry honors excellence with its Golden Globe Awards. To honor 
excellence in bilking the taxpayer, I am today announcing the Golden 
Grab Award.
  We will be giving such awards periodically, a statue of a human hand, 
palm out, extended.
  I expect that the 104th Congress will give us a wealth of candidates 
for the Golden Grab. Already, Rupert Murdoch has shown that he can 
collect world leaders with book contracts the way children collect 
baseball trading cards.
  Nominations are now open for the inaugural award. Winners will have 
their names engraved on a statue in the form of an outstretched hand, 
palm up.


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