[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 117 (Tuesday, September 19, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9690-S9691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  DEMOCRATIC POLICY COMMITTEE HEARINGS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I commend my colleague, Senator Dorgan of 
North Dakota, for a hearing he held yesterday. It was a hearing of the 
Democratic Policy Conference. This is the 10th hearing he has held. I 
attended with several other Senators. The hearings are held on Monday 
because they cannot be held during the ordinary course of business of 
the Senate.
  The reason, I am afraid, is very clear. Senator Dorgan is considering 
an issue which no other committee in Congress will consider. Senator 
Dorgan is raising questions which no other committee on Capitol Hill 
will even suggest. Senator Dorgan and the Democratic Policy Conference 
are calling witnesses to testify openly on issues which the majority in 
this Republican-led Congress will not even consider. What could that 
possibly be? It turns out to be the conduct of our war in Iraq and, 
particularly, the waste and mismanagement of Federal tax dollars.
  Yesterday, there were several former employees of Halliburton. We all 
know them now; they are infamous. This is the company with the no-bid 
contracts--$7 billion worth--and friends in high places all over this 
administration. This is the company which made millions of dollars off 
of taxpayer funds and, sadly, often at the expense of our soldiers.
  Yesterday, the testimony was very clear. There was one witness who 
talked about this fitness center that was put up for our troops and an 
Internet center for our troops, and Halliburton was going to run it. It 
turns out they dramatically inflated the number of soldiers walking 
through the door so they could make more money on the center, ripping 
off the taxpayers. It turns out that the supplies they were given for 
our troops, Halliburton ended up consuming for their own employees, 
having Super Bowl parties, using the food and drink that had been 
prepared for our troops.
  One of the witnesses yesterday said there was a certain arrogance of 
the Halliburton contractors when it came to our troops. They were 
annoyed when the soldiers asked for certain things. It was all about 
profit. It was all about them.
  Why in the world hasn't a single committee in the Senate called 
Halliburton in to answer for these things? Because Halliburton has 
friends in high places. People don't ask these rude and embarrassing 
questions of this powerful special interest corporation.
  I thank Senator Dorgan and the Democratic Policy Conference for 
continuing to bring in the whistleblowers. One would think there would 
be a Member of the Republican Senate embarrassed enough at 
Halliburton's conduct in this war in Iraq that they would join us in a 
bipartisan effort. Sadly, this do-nothing Republican Congress has been 
a coverup Republican Congress as well. They don't want to talk about 
it. They don't want to raise the questions.
  Do you think the feature in the Washington Post this last Sunday 
would have invoked at least some response from the Republican chairmen 
of major committees in the Senate? It was an expose. It showed that 
when we created this provisional authority in Iraq to create a civil 
society, it turned out to be a patronage operation, worse than Brown 
and FEMA when it came to Katrina.
  What they did was screen employees who were headed over to Iraq to 
spend billions of dollars and ask them probing questions about their 
qualifications. And do you know what the questions were. Here are some 
of the questions: How did you vote in the last primary? Did you vote 
for President Bush? What is your position on the issue of abortion? 
Where do you stand in terms of the Republican Party of America?
  These were the questions asked of people we sent over to manage 
billions of dollars, our taxpayers' dollars, and rebuild Iraq. Is it 
any wonder we are in the fourth year in a war with no end? Is it any 
wonder that Iraq today is still in shambles from the viewpoint of its 
civil government? Is it any wonder when one looks at this gross 
incompetence, the same type of incompetence, patronage, and favoritism 
we saw, sadly, with Hurricane Katrina when Americans were 
disadvantaged?
  There was a time in the history of this great institution when no 
President could get by with what this administration is getting by 
with. There was a time when a Democratic Senate would challenge a 
Democratic President, when a man named Harry Truman would stand up and 
say: We are going to look at profiteering and waste in waging the war 
against the Nazis and those who are their allies, even if we have a 
Democratic President, even if it might embarrass him.
  Sadly, those days are gone. This Congress stands mute. This Congress 
refuses to ask the hard questions of this administration. This Congress 
refuses to acknowledge the obvious. We have lost 2,686 American 
soldiers in Iraq, and over 20,000 have returned home seriously injured. 
We have spent over $325 billion. The scandalous conduct of contractors 
over there, deserving of investigation, has been made a matter of 
public record because of Senator Dorgan's hearings, and this 
administration and this Republican Congress refuse to ask the hard 
questions. Clearly, it is time for a change.
  It is a time for new leadership that will ask these hard questions on 
behalf of our soldiers and our taxpayers.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from North Dakota.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, how much time remains?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Five minutes.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Illinois. I 
appreciate him attending the hearing yesterday. As he indicated, we 
would prefer not to do oversight hearings. That is a job for

[[Page S9691]]

other committees. But because they have not done it, we have a 
responsibility to do them, and will.
  We have done 10 oversight hearings with respect to contracting in 
Iraq. I am convinced the stories we have heard at these hearings 
undermine our American soldiers, undermine our troops, and cheat our 
taxpayers. I don't, for the life of me, understand why there is not 
aggressive activity in this Chamber and at the Pentagon to root out the 
waste, fraud, and abuse we have seen. It is almost as if there is a 
sleepwalk going on through these issues.
  I have held hearings, and we have described all of the issues. 
Yesterday, a woman who worked for Halliburton went to Halliburton and 
said: What is happening is Halliburton is billing, in some cases, five 
times the amount they should be billing to the Federal Government for 
certain activities in Iraq.
  For complaining to her superiors about the taxpayers being cheated by 
this contractor, she was put under guard by four civilians working for 
Halliburton, kept overnight, put on an airplane, fired, and shipped out 
of Iraq. That is what she got for being a whistleblower to talk about 
how the taxpayers were being cheated.
  I am going to speak more about those issues this week with respect to 
all the hearings I have held. It is not for the purpose of injuring 
anybody. It is for the purpose of protecting our troops and our 
taxpayers.
  Briefly, I want to describe something I am going to send over to the 
inspector general of the Defense Department today. This is a letter 
that was given to us yesterday at the hearing. It is a letter from 
Halliburton--Kellogg, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton. It 
is from Mr. Standard, a civilian contract employee who was a 
truckdriver in Iraq who was wounded.

  By the way, Halliburton hires these contract civilian employees 
through their subsidiary in the Cayman Islands. Why do they have a 
subsidiary in the Cayman Islands? That is a tax haven country. They get 
American contracts from our Government and run them through the Cayman 
Islands so they don't have to pay taxes.
  This is from Mr. Standard, a truckdriver wounded in Iraq driving a 
convoy as a civilian contract employee for Halliburton. Here is what 
Halliburton has written to this truckdriver:

       I hope this finds you well and enjoying a swift recovery. 
     Per our conversation today, I included the medical records 
     release form. This form authorizes me to share your medical 
     records with the Pentagon Review Board for the purpose of 
     awarding you the Secretary's Defense of Freedom Medal.

  Halliburton is saying to the truckdriver: We would like you to sign a 
release so that we, Halliburton, can send information on your medical 
situation to the Defense Department and get you a Defense medal for the 
Defense of Freedom.
  Here is what they said to this wounded truckdriver, an employee of 
their subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root: Authorization and release 
reform, use and disclosure of protected information. It is a lengthy 
form. The truckdriver who signed this said: I am going to allow you to 
turn my medical records over to the Defense Department. And then under 
section 9, it says:

       Release: I agree that in consideration for the application 
     for a Defense of Freedom Medal on my behalf that on behalf of 
     myself, my hires, executors, administrators, assigns, and 
     successors, I hereby release, acquit and discharge and do 
     hereby release, acquit and discharge KBR, all KBR employees, 
     the military, and any of their representatives, collectively 
     and individually, with respect to any claims and any and all 
     causes of action of any kind or character, known or unknown, 
     that I may have against any of them.

  What they have said to the employee in a deceitful way, in my 
judgment, is: We would like you to sign a medical release form so we 
can apply for a Defense Medal of Freedom for you. First, there is no 
such thing as being able to apply for a Defense Medal of Freedom. You 
are either entitled to it or you are not.
  In any event, they are saying to the truckdriver, buried in No. 9, in 
exchange for that, you should assign away all your rights against this 
company or any actions of the company or any employee of the company.
  This is unbelievably deceptive. Here is a company, Halliburton, 
saying to a truckdriver that was wounded, an employee of theirs--by the 
way, the testimony yesterday by other truckdrivers who were wounded in 
action is that Halliburton knew they sent a convey right into hostile 
action on a road that was marked red and black, which meant no travel 
by a civilian convey. They deliberately sent them onto that road 
anyway. Seven people were killed in that circumstance.
  Aside from all of that--and that is important in itself--this company 
has written to its former employee, a wounded truckdriver, saying: We 
would like to send your medical records to the Pentagon, and we would 
like to get for you this Defense of Freedom Medal. So would you please 
sign this--not pointing out to him that he is signing away all of his 
rights to take action against that company or anybody in that company.
  I have the standards of the Defense Medal of Freedom right here. Let 
me show the date. It is in 2001:

       Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced today the 
     creation of the Defense of Freedom Medal to honor civilian 
     employees of the Department of Defense injured or killed in 
     the line of duty. It will be the civilian equivalent of the 
     military's Purple Heart. The first recipients to be honored 
     will be the Defense Department civilians injured or killed 
     recently as a result of the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. 
     At the discretion of the Secretary of Defense, the medal may 
     be awarded to nondefense employees, such as contractors, 
     based on their involvement in Department of Defense 
     activities.

  This is unbelievably deceptive, and I believe deceitful, to try to 
persuade a former employee of this company to sign a release form 
saying it is a release of medical records when, in fact, it is a 
release of much more.
  I am going to ask the inspector general to investigate exactly what 
this contractor has done.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority controls 15 minutes. 
The Senator from New Hampshire is recognized.

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