[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 76 (Tuesday, June 11, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H3424-H3425]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1930
   FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CANNOT ACCOUNT FOR BILLIONS OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Jeff Miller of Florida). Under a 
previous order of the House, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. 
Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, during the Memorial Day 
break, I happened to be listening to a talk show out of Raleigh, North 
Carolina called WPTF and the host is Jerry Agar. When Mr. Agar said 
that the New York Post had reported that the national government, the 
Federal Government had lost $17.3 billion, it kind of got my attention. 
So by phone, because I was in my car, I called my staff and I said, 
please get me a copy of the New York Post. I cannot believe what Jerry 
Agar was saying, even though I have been on his show and I think he is 
a very, very credible talk show host.
  Sure enough, we got a copy of the New York Post and the article says, 
``Washington complains about deceptive corporate accounting, but the 
government last year misplaced an incredible $17.3 billion because of 
shoddy bookkeeping, or worse.''
  Then, to add to that embarrassment that we cannot keep our books 
straight here in Washington, D.C., the London Times, May 29, has an 
article that says, ``As accounting errors go, it is a whopper. The U.S. 
Treasury has admitted that it has `lost' $17.3 billion,'' and they 
equate that in pounds to $11.7 billion, ``because of shoddy 
bookkeeping, enough to buy a fleet of 8 B-2 stealth bombers and still 
have change for jet fuel.''
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit these two articles and also a 
letter that I have sent to Secretary Paul O'Neill.
  Let me go a little bit further. In March, 2002, the Department of the 
Treasury released the 2001 financial report of the United States 
Government. This report included some shocking revelations about 
Federal Government expenditures. Specifically, on page 110 of this 
report, it is revealed that the Federal Government has unreconciled 
transactions totaling $17.3 billion from the year 2001. Put simply, the 
Federal Government cannot account for billions of taxpayers' dollars 
that Americans paid in one fiscal year.
  Mr. Speaker, as a Member of Congress, and my colleagues, I am sure, 
feel the same and, more importantly, as taxpayers, I am frankly 
offended by these facts. With the war on terrorism costing about $1.8 
billion per month, this is not the time to be misplacing taxpayers' 
dollars. As I stated earlier, and I want to state again, the London 
Times said $17.3 billion is enough to buy a fleet of B-2 bombers with 
spare change for fuel. Mr. Speaker, $17.3 billion is the equivalent of 
two aircraft carriers and two air wings. If a company in the private 
sector managed its books in a similar fashion, someone would definitely 
be going to jail.
  Last week, as I said earlier, I requested Secretary of the Treasury 
Paul O'Neill to account for these unreconciled transactions. Mr. 
Speaker, the American taxpayers look to us to be the leaders who 
protect and spend their money wisely, and I think we have a 
responsibility and an obligation to the taxpayers of this country to 
explain to them how we lost $17.3 billion. It is unacceptable, and I am 
sure my colleagues on both sides of the political aisle will feel the 
way I do. We would expect an explanation to the fact that we have 
misplaced and lost $17.3 billion of the taxpayers' money.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I am going to close with that. But again, I do want 
to submit the two articles from the London Times, the New York Post, 
and my letter to Secretary O'Neill, and I do expect Secretary O'Neill 
to respond with some type of explanation. If I do not get a letter in 
the proper length of time, I intend to notify the committee of 
jurisdiction and ask that they hold a hearing on how we as a national 
government have lost $17.3 billion of the taxpayers' money. The 
American people work hard for their money and they have a right for an 
accountability by this government.

                 [From the New York Post, May 28, 2002]

                         Billions Lost by Feds

                           (By John Crudele)

       May 28, 2002.--Washington complains about deceptive 
     corporate accounting. But the government last year misplaced 
     an incredible $17.3 billion because of shoddy bookkeeping, or 
     worse.
       Let me put that into numbers so you can fully appreciate 
     the amount. It's $17,300,000,000--the price of a few dozen 
     urban renewal projects, a nice size fleet of warships or 
     about have the tax cut that everyone made such a fuss about 
     last summer. Disappeared. Gone. Nowhere to be found. In fact, 
     the government's accounting was so atrocious that the General 
     Accounting Office--another Washington agency--refused to give 
     an opinion about the honesty of the government's books.
       Did someone steal all that money? The government doesn't 
     know. Was it simply misplaced? Dunno. Misspent? Your guess is 
     as good as anyone's.
       There's a certain bit of irony, of course, that Congress is 
     raking companies like Enron, Arthur Andersen and others over 
     the hot coals for falsified books when D.C.'s own records are 
     pathetically inadequate.
       As I mentioned in this column a couple of weeks ago, the 
     government made an incredible admission a little while back 
     in something called the 2001 Financial Report of the United 
     States Government.
       In that report, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill revealed 
     that when the government uses the same accounting method that 
     corporations are required to use, the federal deficit in 2001 
     was $515 billion. Last fall the government said the budget 
     had a surplus of $127 billion.
       Ah, yes, the good old days!
       The huge deficit is mainly, the government says, the result 
     of health benefits to military retirees. That's a cost the 
     government conveniently forgot to include in its old 
     accounting method, which had more to do with winning votes 
     than providing a true financial picture of the country.
       Anf that $515 billion doesn't include all costs, especially 
     Social Security. But we'll leave that alone because I don't 
     want to depress anyone--especially myself.
       I also said in that earlier column that the information on 
     the deficit wasn't easy to find. O'Neill's letter was buried 
     on the Treasury Department's Web site and the press release 
     put out by the agency didn't mention the $515 billion until 
     paragraph 5.
       (Treasury says all the press in Washington got a copy of 
     the report and that it was adequately disclosed. It also said 
     an undersecretary of Treasury had reported the numbers to a 
     congressional subcommittee.)
       Well, I sent my scavengers back into that Financial Report 
     of the U.S. for another look and that's when we discovered 
     the unaccounted for $17.4 billion.
       Follow me on this and I'll lead you to the still missing 
     treasure.
       Go to www.USTreas.gov, click on Treasury Bureau on the 
     left, then click on ``financial management services.''
       If you've made it this far click on ``Financial Report of 
     the U.S. Government'' for 2001 and download it.
       Now find page 49. Look at the line that says ``Unreconciled 
     transactions affecting the change in net position.'' The 
     figure in the 2001 column next to that is $17.3 billion.
       What that means is that when the accountants tried to 
     balanced the government's books they came up $17.4 billion 
     short. Note 16 on Page 110 sort of explains.
       That footnote says that the accountants had to pencil in 
     $17.4 billion that didn't exist (or was missing) in order to 
     achieve a balanced government ledger.
       The footnote adds that the mistake could simply be bad 
     government record keeping or ``improper recording of 
     intragovernmental transactions by agencies.''
       Poor record keeping! Isn't that a gem.
       I spoke with some of the folks at the General Accounting 
     Office who audited the government's report. They were puzzled 
     by the discrepancy and wouldn't sign off on the government's 
     accounting because of that and other things.
       ``The left and the right side didn't equate,'' said one GAO 
     auditor. When such a thing happens in the private sector, 
     People go to jail. And a company's stock would fall by about 
     99 percent if its auditor didn't trust the books--just ask 
     the felons-to-be down at Enron.
       It is good that Washington must now adopt a corporate-like 
     method of accounting for where it spends taxpayers' money.
       But it would be even better if there were some recourse to 
     the sort of sloppiness, arrogance or criminality that allows 
     the government to come up $17.4 billion short of balancing 
     its books.
       At the very least, maybe some corporate exec--as he's being 
     hauled off to jail for accounting fraud--will hold aloft page 
     49 of the government's financial statement and foot note 16 
     and demand equal treatment.

[[Page H3425]]

     
                                  ____
                 [From the London Times, May 29, 2002]

             US Government Loses $17bn in Accounting Error

                      (By Chris Ayres in New York)

       As accounting errors go, it is a whopper. The US Treasury 
     has admitted that it has ``lost'' $17.3 billion (Pounds 11.7 
     billion) because of shoddy book-keeping--enough to buy a 
     fleet of eight B-2 stealth bombers and still have change for 
     jet fuel.
       The admission, contained in the 2001 Financial Report of 
     the United States Government, is likely to infuriate firms 
     that have been targeted by the Bush Administration for sloppy 
     accounting.
       The misplaced cash is nearly 30 times greater than the $600 
     million error in Enron's reported profits that led to the 
     Texas energy company's spectacular bankruptcy last December.
       It is thought that the accounting error led to a dispute 
     between the US Treasury and the General Accounting Office, 
     which was reluctant to sign off on the report.
       Paul O'Neill, the US Treasury Secretary, writes in the 
     introduction to the Financial Report: ``I believe that the 
     American people deserve the highest standards of 
     accountability and professionalism from their Government and 
     I will not rest until we achieve them.'' However, on page 110 
     of the Financial Report is a note that explains that the 
     Treasury's books did not balance because of a missing $17.3 
     billion.
       The note says that ``three primary factors'' were 
     responsible: the failure of government agencies to keep 
     accurate books; errors in reporting various contracts between 
     government agencies; and problems with the timing of certain 
     costs and revenues.
       It is not the first time that the US Treasury has been 
     embarrassed by the kind of accounting problems that have 
     spooked stock market investors. Because of new corporate-
     style accounting rules for the Government, the US Treasury's 
     $127 billion federal surplus, reported last autumn, turned 
     into a deficit of $515 billion, mainly as a result of the 
     Government incorporating the cost of health benefits for 
     those retiring from the US military.
       America's finances have also been strained by last year's 
     tax cut, the recession and increased spending after the 
     September 11 attacks.
                                  ____

                                    Congress of the United States,


                                     House of Representatives,

                                     Washington, DC, June 6, 2002.
     Hon. Paul H. O'Neill,
     Secretary of the Treasury,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Secretary: I write to you to bring to your 
     attention a serious situation regarding 2001 Financial Report 
     of the United States Government.
       In March 2002, the Department of the Treasury released this 
     report to the public and included are some shocking 
     revelations about Federal government expenditures. As a 
     member of Congress and, more importantly, as a taxpayer, I am 
     frankly offended by these facts. Specifically, on page 110 of 
     the report, it is revealed the Federal government has 
     ``unreconciled transactions'' totalling $17.3 billion from 
     FY2001. Put simply, the Federal government has ``unreconciled 
     transactions'' totalling $17.3 billion from FY2001. Put 
     simply, the Federal government cannot account for billions of 
     taxpayer dollars that Americans paid in one fiscal year.
       The report provides minimal data and information regarding 
     these ``unreconciled transactions''. Not only is the Federal 
     government missing $17.3 billion, but there is no reason 
     given for this loss. While I appreciate the Department of the 
     Treasury's statement ``. . . the identification and accurate 
     reporting of these unreconciled transactions a priority . . 
     .'', the fact remains the public nor the Congress has the 
     requisite information on how this loss occurred.
       What agencies were responsible for these ``unreconciled 
     transactions''? Will these transactions eventually be 
     reconciled? If so, what is the timeline for the 
     reconciliation? What agency or agencies will be responsible 
     for the reconciliation? Will this reconciliation be available 
     to the public when complete?
       The Clinton Administration provided for an enormous erosion 
     of Americans' confidence in their government. My hope is that 
     these ``unreconciled transactions'' are nothing more than a 
     bygone relic of the previous Administration. However, members 
     of Congress and employees of the Executive Branch must be 
     accountable to the American taxpayer and my constituents are 
     demanding answers to these important questions.
       Mr. Secretary, I believe someone must answer to the 
     American people for this loss of tax dollars. I look forward 
     to your answers regarding these ``unreconciled 
     transactions''. Thank you for your prompt attention to this 
     matter. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do 
     not hesitate to contact me.
           Sincerely,
                                                  Walter B. Jones,
     Member of Congress.

                          ____________________