[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 95 (Monday, July 15, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H4656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          WHERE IS THE MONEY?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. 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, first, I would like to say 
I join my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in my concerns about 
the corporate scandals that are taking place throughout this country 
and certainly the investors who have lost so much money. I resent very 
much the corporate leadership and how they have misled and manipulated 
the investors, and I hope that there will be a severe price to pay for 
this action.
  However, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to come back to the floor tonight to 
talk about my concerns about the government in their report, which was 
the ``2001 Financial Report of the United States Government.'' On page 
110, we can see from the chart that they acknowledge in this report 
that the taxpayers or the government has lost $17.3 billion of the 
taxpayers' money. My biggest concern is because the taxpayers do not 
have a choice, they have to pay their taxes at the end of the year, and 
those us of in Congress, I think we have a responsibility to make sure 
that the monies of our taxpayers are certainly being protected so there 
is not a report like the ``2001 Financial Report of the United States 
Government,'' that said we have misplaced or lost or cannot reconcile 
transactions that total $17.3 billion.
  Mr. Speaker, I actually wrote to Secretary O'Neill on June 6 asking 
him to please respond to my letter asking questions as to where in the 
world could this $17.3 billion have gone. I certainly think that the 
taxpayers of this country have a right to know. Certainly they are 
required to pay taxes, so they are investors in this government; and we 
have a responsibility to make certain that we can account for their 
monies.
  In addition, there was the GAO testimony that was released on April 
9, 2002. This was an appearance before the Subcommittee on Government 
Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations. I 
want to read one statement from David Walker, Comptroller General of 
the United States. He said, ``As in the four previous fiscal years, we 
were unable to express an opinion on the consolidated financial 
statements because of certain material weaknesses in internal control 
and accounting and reporting issues. These conditions prevented us from 
being able to provide the Congress and the American citizens an opinion 
as to whether the consolidated financial statements are fairly stated 
in conformity with the U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.''
  Mr. Speaker, when I read that information to the House and to the 
American people, we certainly have our responsibility as elected 
officials to make certain that the people that have the privilege to 
work for the taxpayers of this country make sure that we spend their 
money wisely. I am almost embarrassed to be here on the floor to say to 
the American people and to my colleagues on the floor of the House that 
in this 2001 report we have acknowledged that we have lost $17.3 
billion of the taxpayers' money.

                              {time}  1930

  Mr. Speaker, I am going to close by saying in addition to Secretary 
O'Neill, I have written a letter to Chairman Dan Burton asking that he 
hold a hearing and let us see if we cannot find out where the 
taxpayers' $17.3 billion has gone. We owe them an explanation.
  As we look into the corporate scandals, let us also look at the 
accounting system of the United States Government so that we can 
explain to the taxpayers of this country where their money is going.

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