[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 137 (Wednesday, October 1, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H9080]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  REPORT OF WASHINGTON WASTE WATCHERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Feeney) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FEENEY. Madam Speaker, I am delighted to rise tonight and join 
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling) and the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart) as we have established the Washington 
Waste Watchers. Ronald Reagan once defined the American taxpayer as 
somebody who works for the Federal Government but does not have to take 
the civil service exam. Unfortunately, he was far too correct. 
According to Americans for Tax Reform, the average American family has 
to spend 193 days working to pay their total cost of government: 
Federal, State and local taxes and the regulatory burden. 130 of those 
193 days are the cost of funding the Federal Government. Imagine 
working 193 days for the average American. That is more than half the 
year by far. It is time that our families were able to spend most of 
their time working for their families and themselves and not for the 
Federal Government, the Federal bureaucracy.
  We are facing a time of a dramatically expanding new deficit. We 
understand the need on homeland security. We understand the aftermath 
of September 11. We understand the need to support our troops over in 
Iraq. But the bottom line is that, here at home, we have a lot of 
spending that is simply out of control. The best place to attack this 
spending, in our view, in the Washington Waste Watchers Caucus, is to 
go after wasteful spending, is to look at programs that simply are not 
being well run, are not efficient or are meaningless altogether. There 
are many, many examples of this. Over time, the Washington Waste 
Watchers will be reminding not just our constituents but we will be 
reminding people who are the stewards of the American taxpayers in all 
of the different Federal agencies that they do not want to be the next 
group or the next individual embarrassed because of what they have done 
on their watch with the taxpayer dollars.
  There are lots of examples. I want to go through a few tonight. In 
the Pell grant program, for example, if ideally run, it helps empower 
many thousands of American men and women get through college. An 
administrator at the Beacon Career Institute in my home State of 
Florida, however, defrauded the Department of Education of nearly $1 
million. The administrator submitted false documents to justify the 
disbursement of $720,000 in improper Pell grants. This money could have 
been used to pay for some 600 Pell grants when combined with the other 
$2.4 million in fraud. The Department of Education estimates that in 
the year 2001, some $336 million in Pell grants were improperly 
disbursed, given to the wrong people. That is wrong. Unfortunately, 
some of our friends in the Democratic Party still want to raise your 
taxes.
  If you look at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, for example, there is a 
lot of fraud that is denying legitimate Indian needs out there in 
America. In New Mexico, for example, a Bureau of Indian Affairs 
bookkeeper embezzled $66,000 of Federal money intended for the Wingate 
High School. Also in Arizona, the neighboring State, two Bureau of 
Indian Affairs bureaucrats skimmed over $60,000 intended for Indian 
education programs. Again, a lot of our Democratic colleagues still 
want to raise your taxes.
  In the Virgin Islands, if you look at the Office of Insular Affairs, 
in the Virgin Islands the Department of Health failed to effectively 
administer grants that total over $30.5 million. Errors included 
failure to engage in competitive bidding, improper land acquisition, 
undocumented cost claims and even the failure to complete a health 
clinic. Again, a lot of our Democratic friends still want to raise your 
taxes.
  Finally, the Federal Emergency Management Administration. A lot of my 
colleagues understand in the aftermath of tornadoes, wind storms, and 
the recent hurricane that came up through the east coast, we want an 
emergency management agency to help people in severe need as they are 
rebuilding their communities. We want to make sure that police and fire 
and fundamental services are taken care of. But in response to the most 
recent wind storm, do you know what the Federal Emergency Management 
Administration is funding in this part of the world right outside of 
the Capitol here? Free stress reduction and personal growth classes as 
a response to the hurricane. They ask questions like, does stress make 
you feel unbalanced? Do you sometimes feel sad, depressed or empty? Do 
worrisome thoughts make you feel overwhelmed? By the way, if so, FEMA, 
the emergency management administration, thinks it has got an answer 
for you. What does it have? Multicultural initiatives, presenting a 
series that will allow discussion of who we are, where we are from, why 
we are here and how we are doing, a Federal program supposedly 
responding to emergencies in our States.
  Multicultural town meetings. We have future workshops to address the 
issues of diversity, peace and violence versus nonviolence. These may 
be worthwhile things, but do you think that your tax dollar in the 
emergency management administration should be spent on them? Finally, 
anger management programs are being funded with your tax dollars in the 
Federal Emergency Management Administration.
  Lastly, I will tell you that they are using your tax dollars, 
supposedly used to respond to emergencies, to do things like a yearlong 
celebration of trees, of gardens and other healing places. Ladies and 
gentlemen, some of them on the Democratic side still want to raise your 
taxes.
  We are going to go after the waste in government.

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