[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 5, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H2624-H2625]
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 Texas (Mr. Hensarling) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I rise again this week as part of the 
Washington Waste Watchers, a Republican working group dedicated to 
rooting out the rampant waste, fraud and

[[Page H2625]]

abuse that permeates every corner of the Federal bureaucracy.
  I hope that soon the House of Representatives will be able to vote on 
a conference report for the fiscal year 2005 budget. Now, we have 
historically a large deficit in this Nation; and at this time, many of 
my Democrat colleagues suggest that it is time to yet again raise taxes 
on American families. Just last week, many voted against marriage 
penalty tax relief, the very same marriage penalty that would raise 
taxes on 30 million married couples by $369 next year.
  Many Democrats keep demanding that we roll back the tax relief that 
is responsible for the unparalleled growth in our economy, the tax 
relief that is creating jobs; and the tax relief, if we look at the 
budget, amounts to 1 percent of the $28.3 trillion, trillion with a T, 
10-year spending plan that we approved last year.
  So if they are truly concerned about the budget deficit, perhaps they 
should focus on 99 percent of the challenge, and that is, the spending 
side of the equation, much of which, Mr. Speaker, unfortunately proves 
to be waste, fraud and abuse.
  We must all realize that the deficit is the symptom. It is spending 
that is the disease. It is only the fourth time in the history of our 
Nation the Federal Government is now spending over $20,000 per 
household. This figure is up from just 5 years ago of $16,000 per 
household, representing the largest increase in the Federal Government 
in 50 years.
  We have a spending problem in Washington, not a taxing problem; and 
I, for one, say it is not time to raise taxes on the American family as 
many Democrats seek to do, but it is time to get serious about rooting 
out the waste, the fraud, the abuse.

                              {time}  1915

  In other words, it is time to take out the trash in Washington. Let 
me give a few examples of waste in just one government agency. The 
Interior Department's Inspector General revealed that the Department 
now manages approximately 31,000 separate Web sites, presenting between 
3 and 5 million pages of information with maintenance costs approaching 
$220 million a year. Now, AOL-Time Warner, who I believe is the largest 
Internet service provider in the world, manages in contrast about 50 
sites, but the Interior Department manages 31,000 different Web sites. 
In an agency that employs 70,000, that means the Department of Interior 
has almost one Web site for every two employees.
  Yet Democrats want to raise our taxes that would pay for more of 
this?
  The Inspector General also reported at the Interior Department that 
we awarded $44 million in Federal contracts to the CEO of a tribal 
Indian corporation who stole and laundered a half million dollars in 
Federal funds.
  The Guam Waterworks Authority, which receives Federal grants, 
incurred outrageous overtime costs of $8.6 million over a 3-year 
period, failed to collect delinquent accounts totaling $12.6 million, 
and failed to charge customers for a half million cost of water line 
extensions, all of this while using money from the Federal taxpayer. 
Yet Democrats want to raise taxes that will pay for more of this?
  In another example, the National Park Service spent $800,000 on an 
outhouse, and it does not even work. The only thing it flushes is more 
of the American worker's hard-earned money down the drain. The list 
goes on and on and on.
  Mr. Speaker, these are just a few examples of waste in just one 
Federal agency. The problem is we have over 10,000 Federal programs 
spread across 600 different agencies with little accountability to 
anyone. Republicans are trying to work to root out this waste of the 
American tax dollars. This should be a bipartisan issue, but many of 
our Democrat colleagues continue to fight us.
  Last year our Committee on the Budget passed out a budget asking for 
authorizing committees to identify just 1 percent waste, fraud and 
abuse; just 1 percent. Yet Democrat leaders ridiculed the effort. One 
termed it a senseless and irresponsible exercise.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe most Americans would disagree with that 
statement. In fact, I believe most would say saving taxpayer money and 
rooting out waste is common sense and the responsible thing to do with 
their money. The truth is there are many ways we can save money in 
Washington without cutting any needed services and without raising 
taxes on our hard-working American families because when it comes to 
Federal programs, it is not how much money that Washington spends that 
counts, it is how Washington spends the money.

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