[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 136 (Tuesday, September 30, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H8998]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       WASHINGTON WASTE WATCHERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, the Washington Waste 
Watchers have been hard at work locating a vast range of government 
waste, fraud, and abuse. Unfortunately, these examples have not been 
hard to find, Madam Speaker. For some, however, examples of wasted 
taxpayers' money does not slow down their efforts to raise taxes. We 
have got a spending problem here in Washington; and waste, fraud, and 
abuse is a huge part of why we have that problem. For example, $366 
million, $366 million in Pell grant awards was improperly disbursed 
because applicants understated their income on their applications last 
year. That resulted in over 84,000 Pell grants lost to waste, fraud, 
and abuse. And the Democrats want to raise taxes to pay for more of 
this?
  The Veterans Affairs Inspector General, Madam Speaker, estimates that 
roughly 14,000 incarcerated veterans have been paid about $100 million 
nationwide because the Department has no method of identifying 
prisoners, never has, $100 million in wasted benefits that missed going 
to the needy, truly needy veterans in order to line the pockets of 
Washington's bureaucracy. And the Democrats, Madam Speaker, want to 
raise taxes to pay for more of this?
  Over the last 4 years, the Department of Agriculture spent a total of 
$5.13 billion in food stamp overpayments. That is $5.13 billion wasted 
instead of helping low-income families who are unable to put food on 
their table. And again Democrats insist on wanting to raise the taxes 
of the hard-working American people to do more of this?
  We do not need to raise taxes to improve government benefit programs; 
but Madam Speaker, we have to be willing to reach into the pockets of 
the bureaucracy and stop that system from spending the checks of our 
taxpayers' money.
  Accounting schemes that send people to jail in the private sector do 
not even impact a normal promotion schedule for the bureaucracy in the 
Federal Government. It is not an issue here. See, it is time to hold 
those people responsible for wasting taxpayers' money; but we have got 
to be committed to fixing the broken systems, not just pouring more and 
more tax money from the hard-working people to keep the same programs 
going exactly the same and wasting the same amount of money as the 
Democrats would suggest.
  The American taxpayers are not fooled, Madam Speaker. They know that 
their hard-earned tax dollars have paid for $106 billion in Medicare 
improper payments since 1996. Their dollars have paid for $233 million 
in improper payments within the Veterans Compensation and Benefit 
program. Their tax dollars have even bought a pet dog for a member of 
the bureaucracy with a government charge card. Billions of dollars are 
lost every single year to waste, fraud, and abuse. Taxpayers are 
sending their money here to Washington only to find that it is being 
wasted; and the Democrats again still want to raise their taxes, saying 
there is not enough money up here.
  There is a clear path, Madam Speaker, to eliminate waste, fraud, and 
abuse throughout this Federal Government. We must find savings and not 
tolerate, I repeat, not tolerate, any level of wasted taxpayer dollars. 
Democrats have chosen to oppose those efforts time and time again and 
fight to raise taxes in order to pay for more of this business as 
usual.
  Every week, Madam Speaker, the Washington Waste Watchers will keep 
reminding every person, every person in this Chamber of the impact of 
government waste, fraud, and abuse, not only to the taxpayers, Madam 
Speaker, but also to the beneficiaries who do not receive the benefits 
that they do deserve. Again, we will also remind our friends on the 
other side of the aisle that their constant attempts to raise taxes 
will only result in billions of additional dollars being lost to waste, 
fraud, and abuse at the expense of the hard-working American taxpayer.

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