[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 18 (Wednesday, February 12, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1297-S1298]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       TAXPAYERS AT RISK FROM GOVERNMENT WASTE AND MISMANAGEMENT

  Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. President, today the U.S. General Accounting Office 
[GAO] issues its high risk series which identifies those federal 
programs that are especially vulnerable to waste and mismanagement. The 
programs identified in these reports have cost taxpayers billions of 
dollars in unnecessary expenditures. Without adequate oversight from 
the Congress many more billions will be wasted before we are through. 
While the magnitude of the problems GAO has identified is shocking, I 
am optimistic that we have in place the tools to change Government for 
the better--but we must be willing to use them.
  There is a tendency when we are debating how to balance the budget or 
when the crisis de jour erupts, for Government to ignore management 
issues--those which to some are tedious, time-consuming and best left 
to the bean-counters. While management issues sometimes tend to get 
swept under the carpet during high-minded policy debates, we ignore 
them at our peril. We cannot implement any of our policy solutions 
without effective public administration. In an era of static resources, 
if we are to balance the budget, replace aging weapon systems at the 
Department of Defense [DOD], or attack drug abuse, we must achieve 
significant savings. To find the money, we have to make Government 
better while cheaper and, to do that, we have to do things smarter.
  GAO identifies 25 areas that we must focus on to avoid squandering 
billions of taxpayer dollars. For example, GAO reports that DOD wastes 
billions of dollars each year on unneeded and inefficient activities, 
is vulnerable to additional billions of dollars in waste by buying 
unnecessary supplies and risks overpaying contractors millions of 
dollars for services not rendered. It reports that the Internal Revenue 
Service's accounting is so poor that it cannot effectively manage the 
collection of the over $113 billion owed the U.S. Government in 
delinquent taxes. In addition, GAO again criticizes the management of 
the IRS' computer modernization effort. Just last week, certain IRS 
officials conceded that this ``modernization'' has already cost the 
taxpayers $4 billion and ``does not work in the real world''.
  IRS is not the only Federal agency having a problem coming to grips 
with the electronic age. Over the last 6 years, the Federal Government 
has spent $145 billion on computers but continues to have, according to 
GAO, ``chronic problems harnessing the full potential of information 
technology to improve performance, cut costs, and/or enhance 
responsiveness to the public.'' The security of sensitive data on 
Government computers and how well the Government converts its old 
computers to run in the 2000 were also identified by GAO as areas that 
posed a risk to the Treasury.
  Billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse occur in Federal 
benefit programs. GAO reports, in the supplemental security income 
program alone, taxpayers are losing over $1 billion a year in 
overpayments. The $197 billion Medicare Program, according to GAO

[[Page S1298]]

``loses significant amounts due to persistent fraudulent and wasteful 
claims and abusive billings.''
  The risk of losses from the $941 billion Federal loan portfolio is 
another source of taxpayer vulnerability. Currently, the Government has 
$44 billion of defaulted guaranteed loans on its books and has written 
off many billions more over the last few years. According to GAO, three 
loan programs (student, farm, and housing) are especially vulnerable 
due to poor agency management. GAO also calls for improving Federal 
contract management at several agencies that spend tens of billions of 
dollars each year on contractor support. Finally, the 2000 census was 
placed on the high risk list. The census has tremendous implications in 
the allocation of billions of dollars in Federal funding and for the 
apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives.
  However, GAO was not all doom and gloom acknowledging that, ``after 
decades of seeing high risk problems and management weaknesses recur in 
agency after agency,'' Congress has moved to enact several Government-
wide reforms to address the situation. GAO mentions five such laws as 
key to improving operations in the Federal Government: The Chief 
Financial Officers Act of 1990, the Government Performance and Results 
Act of 1993, the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994, the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and the Clinger-Cohen Act information 
management and procurement reforms of 1996. These laws are designed to 
get the Federal Government to operate in a sound, businesslike manner. 
It is up to Congress and the administration to ensure that these 
management reforms are implemented to improve Government performance 
and results.
  I want to work with the administration and my colleagues in Congress 
to improve the Government's operations. As part of this process, I plan 
to invite before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee the Director 
of OMB to address the problems identified by GAO. We have the 
legislative framework in place to eradicate these programs from GAO's 
high risk list. What we need is the vision and fortitude to implement 
these bipartisan management reforms and achieve a lasting solution to 
the management problems that torment the pocketbook of our citizens.

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