[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 169 (Monday, October 30, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H11425-H11426]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   POSSIBLE VIOLATION OF HOUSE RULES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Riggs] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RIGGS. Madam Speaker, I actually rise to inform my colleagues 
that lost in all the discussion in recent weeks back here in Washington 
over some very important and pressing issues has been the revelation 
that the House Inspector General, Mr. John Lainhart, who was appointed 
as House Inspector General by the former Democratic majority, in fact 
by the former Speaker of the House, Tom Foley, has indicated that he 
will soon be reporting to the House Committee on Oversight and the 
House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct the names of those 
Members of Congress past and present as well as House officers who may 
have violated either House rules or the laws of the United States of 
America in conjunction with the ongoing audit into congressional 
finances.
  I just want to refresh the memory of my colleagues that back on 
January 4, the opening day of this session, in one of our first acts as 
the new majority party in the House of Representatives, we Republicans, 
joined by almost all of our colleagues on the minority side of the 
aisle, commissioned an independent audit of House finances. The 
international accounting firm Price 

[[Page H 11426]]
Waterhouse, one of the Big Six accounting firms, was ultimately 
selected to conduct this audit. What they found, to put it simply, was 
a complete and total mess.
  House congressional finances in fact were in such disarray that the 
Price Waterhouse accounting firm was unable to render an opinion on the 
financial condition of the House of Representatives. In fact, reading 
between their lines, I think one can conclude that, if any American 
business kept its records and managed its money the way the House of 
Representatives has for many, many years, under the previous 
leadership, that business would have been bankrupt and its owners would 
have been in jail.
  In fact the audit, which again we promised to the American people and 
American taxpayers as part of the Contract with America, found 14 
significant control weaknesses. These are internal management controls 
and financial records that were in such disarray that the auditors 
would not even issue an opinion on the management of House finances 
because of the gross lack of information.
  This is the worst conclusion that an auditor can reach. In one 
example the poor financial management by the House under the previous 
Democratic control, Price Waterhouse found that handwritten ledgers 
were used in the House finance office which process $700 million in 
taxpayer funds for salaries and expenses.
  So, as I mentioned in recent days, the Inspector General has informed 
the House, and this was reported in the Washington Times last week, the 
House Inspector General has informed the House that he is preparing to 
present findings that will identify Members and House officers who have 
abused travel and salary accounts.
  I want to let my colleagues know that, at the appropriate time, I 
will press for full disclosure of all abusers. I am sure my colleagues 
here tonight agree with me that we have a duty and an obligation to the 
American people to identify those who have abused the public trust. I 
urge my colleagues to join me in this effort.
  Again, I just want to point out that I will press for full disclosure 
of the names. The public has a right to know and a right to demand 
accountability. I do not want this to get lost in our efforts at other 
reforms and in our efforts to get a balanced budget plan enacted into 
law. But again, I think we have an absolute duty and responsibility to 
pursue this matter, again, given the report that has been presented to 
the House in phase 1 of the audit by Price Waterhouse.
  I will just remind my colleagues that those auditors were 
professional auditors who conduct large-scale accounting or auditing 
efforts in the private sector. Those auditors would not even issue an 
opinion on the soundness of the House's finances or the reliability of 
financial statements filed by House Democrat leaders who managed the 
Congress' budget during the period of the audit, which was the last 
Congress.

                              {time}  2100

  So, I ask my colleagues to join me in demanding full disclosure of 
abuses of House finances. These are the taxpayers' dollars, and the 
American people have a right to know who is responsible for mismanaging 
their money and abusing the public trust.

                          ____________________