[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 158 (Tuesday, November 4, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H10320]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       WASHINGTON WASTE WATCHERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. King of Iowa). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida. Mr. Speaker, as a member of the 
Washington Waste Watchers and of this body, I feel it is my duty to 
bring to the public's attention instances of fraud, waste, and abuse. 
Such actions of fraud, waste, and abuse not only steal from the 
taxpayers, but also from the beneficiaries very much in need of the 
benefits. A perfect example of fraud, waste, and abuse is actually 
occurring right now in my district. In July, after 10 years of service, 
the Department of Labor decided not to award the contract for senior 
employment to the group called Experience Works. It is a not-for-profit 
organization that has been working extremely well with seniors. The 
Department instead decided to award the contract to the American 
Association of Retired Persons or AARP. One might think this might be 
okay.
  The transition that I have seen for my seniors going from Experience 
Works to AARP has been deplorable. At least ten of my constituents call 
my offices every day with complaints of verbal abuse. Imagine that. 
AARP abusing seniors. Some have left meetings with AARP in tears. I can 
only imagine how any Member in here would feel if they received calls 
from senior constituents claiming that AARP is abusing them. What 
happened is AARP has instituted new policies that seniors in my area 
are simply not used to. They have decided that they are going to 
shuffle these senior employees, who, by the way, are earning $5.15 an 
hour, from job to job every 6 months, without exception, and many times 
without any warning. Today they are working for agency X; Monday they 
may be working for agency Y. It seems to me as if we did not learn from 
the shuffle game that we played with foster children. Nobody is 
nourished and nobody grows when we have a shuffling process where there 
is no continuity.
  And, by the way, it is not just the seniors that I am hearing from. 
Many host agencies in the district are having problems as well. One of 
the agencies recently said that they have ``had it with AARP.'' A 
gerontologist contacted me who has been working with seniors, and he 
said that he actually witnessed this verbal abuse of seniors by an AARP 
staff member. AARP is ``looking into it.'' I am sorry, but that is not 
enough. There is not any reason why anyone should tolerate any employee 
who verbally abuses seniors.
  I have also been working with the Department of Labor. AARP is not 
doing this out of the kindness of their heart. They receive $75 million 
for operation of the SCSEP employment program in 27 States and in 
Puerto Rico. By the way, that is up from the $52 million they received 
last year.
  In the 10 years that I served as a Florida Senator and worked with 
Experience Works seniors, I never had one single complaint from my 
constituents, nor did I ever hear of any complaints from the time that 
I was elected. If AARP cannot spend taxpayer dollars that they receive 
helping seniors and working with the host agencies, I can think of a 
number of groups that certainly can accomplish this goal.
  In addition to this case I cited in my district, I was also dismayed 
to learn that there was another Medicaid scandal happening in South 
Florida. Between 1999 and 2000, Medicaid actually paid roughly $2 
million to dead beneficiaries. Most of these funds were distributed 
despite the fact that the department's database had the dates of the 
deaths already logged in. Simple fact, we have some fraudulent 
providers out there who are trying to bilk the system.
  Another example of the waste, obviously, is the $600,000 that we are 
spending this year to have a blimp fly at sporting events to promote 
Medicare. I do not know of one senior out there who is not very 
familiar with Medicare.
  When we look at all these expenditures, I know of lots of veterans 
back home who could suggest a lot better way to spend that taxpayer 
money.
  Waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the Federal agencies is, 
obviously, decades old, and Republicans led by the gentleman from Iowa 
(Mr. Nussle), chairman of the Committee on the Budget, and President 
Bush are working to eliminate the culture of waste that exists at the 
Federal Government. As a Republican, I will work to reduce wasteful 
spending in the government and to protect everyone's tax dollars.

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