[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 91 (Thursday, June 23, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H4473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     WASTEFUL SPENDING WITHIN THE FHA'S INTERNATIONAL SCAN PROGRAM

  (Mr. ALTMIRE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. ALTMIRE. Mr. Speaker, this week, I cosigned a letter to 
Transportation Secretary LaHood expressing concern about the waste of 
taxpayer dollars at the Federal Highway Administration's International 
Scan Program. This program has likely wasted millions of dollars over 
the past 10 years, sending government officials abroad most recently to 
study billboards in five different countries, over 17 days, at a cost 
of $300,000 to the taxpayers.
  Rightly, Secretary LaHood responded to our letter by immediately 
suspending the program, but the question remains: Why did it exist in 
the first place, and how many others like it exist throughout the 
Federal bureaucracy?
  We must continue to scrutinize the budgets at all Federal agencies so 
we can put an end to this type of wasteful spending once and for all. 
Hopefully, the suspension of this billboard program is just a sign of 
things to come.

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