[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 171 (Thursday, November 19, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8125-S8126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           WASTEFUL SPENDING

  Mr. COATS. Madam President, the Presiding Officer has been in the 
chair before when I have done my waste of the week. This is my 27th 
``Waste of the Week'' this year, where I come to the floor of the 
Senate and take a documented waste, fraud, or abuse within the Federal 
Government, expose that abuse, and inform taxpayers that their hard-
earned money is being wasted by this Federal Government. We are taking 
those items that have been documented by government accounting 
agencies, by agencies that have been charged with the responsibility of 
looking into how we spend the taxpayers' money and alerting us to 
problems of fraud, waste, and abuse.
  So No. 27 waste of the week is up this week, and this week it 
involves the issue of paid leave. This is an executive policy which 
applies to departments and agencies across the Federal Government.
  Specifically, what I wish to do today is highlight the $31 million in 
payments to Federal employees who have received paid leave for over a 
1-year period of time. For Federal employees, paid administrative leave 
is typically a paid, excused absence that is separate from vacation 
time. It includes things such as jury duty or time to allow a person to 
transition home after an overseas deployment or post. Some agencies 
also use paid leave when making personnel evaluations. This could 
include things such as investigations into alleged misconduct, security 
threats, and similar situations where the employee should be restricted 
from the worksite while the investigation occurs. Many of these are 
legitimate. Many of these fall into this category. But being given paid 
leave for over a year?
  First, it raises the question, What is going on here? This is way 
beyond the norm.
  Secondly, shouldn't we have some documentation as to why this takes 
place? Currently, Federal agencies across the Federal Government have 
the authority to set their own policies regarding administrative leave, 
and this leads to a variety of different policies from agency to 
agency. Why are there discrepancies among agencies in both length of 
time and the frequency of the granted paid leave?
  What is particularly troubling to me is that an audit by the 
Government Accountability Office, the GAO, found that 263 employees 
have received paid administrative leave for over a 1-year period of 
time--more than 1 year. Most of us expect, yes, OK, 2 days off or a 
week off because I have been selected for jury duty. I have a citizen's 
and a resident's obligation to do that. Paid leave is justified on that 
basis. For someone returning from a post overseas, to get resettled, 
paid leave is justified. There are some other justifications. But over 
a year? Paid leave for over a year and $31 million paid out to people 
who haven't worked for over a year? Something needs to be looked into 
regarding how and why that takes place.
  Last month, the Washington Post told a story about how this issue has 
persisted within the Department of Homeland Security even after the 
report was issued. The Post article states that ``close to 100 DHS 
[Department of Homeland Security] employees still are being paid not to 
work for more than a year.''
  So I think the question we need to ask ourselves in response to this 
report is why? Why did the Federal Government spend $31 million to pay 
263 employees not to work for more than a year? And what is the 
justification for the 1-year paid leaves? Unfortunately, the Government 
Accountability Office was unable to disclose the specific details as to 
why these 263 individuals were on paid leave for over a year. However, 
there are public reports that give examples of employees who have

[[Page S8126]]

continued to receive paychecks for over a year.
  The Washington Post again reported the case of a former high-level 
Environmental Protection Agency employee who pretended he was a member 
of the Central Intelligence Agency for years. This employee collected 
paid leave under the pretense he was conducting top-secret work for the 
CIA when, in fact, he was home exercising and pursuing a personal 
research project. He effectively, according to the Post, stole $900,000 
from taxpayers for work he never did. That included his salary and 
bonus. He was actually paid bonuses. The man was paid a bonus payment 
for not working--defrauding the Agency he worked for. The good news is 
that they caught him. The bad news is that it took 2\1/2\ years to 
figure out something was going on.
  An article in the Washington Times details a 4-year case where an 
employee at EPA was fired for ``sending a `hostile email' and making 
inappropriate statements that `caused anxiety and disruption in the 
workplace.' '' That employee was ultimately removed from the EPA a 
second time but only after he received 1,496 hours of backpay.
  And on and on it goes. I could stand here for a long time talking 
about examples of paid leave to personnel totaling $31 million for 
payments of paid leave for over a 1-year period of time. It is not just 
the EPA. I am not picking on one agency. Every agency in government has 
these policies. GAO estimates that there are some bad track records for 
these agencies. For instance, the Department of the Treasury has 25 
employees on paid leave for over a year and the Department of Veterans 
Affairs has over 46. And even more disturbing is the fact that the GAO 
investigation found that Federal agencies don't have sufficient 
documentation for the paid leave, if they had any documentation at all. 
How can you put someone on paid leave, how can you make payments for 
over a year and have no documentation as to why you are making the 
payments?
  Coming to the floor with these waste of the week, fraud-and-abuse 
situations, it is hard to comprehend how these things go on. The 
ingenuity of those who are committing fraud and those who oversee 
agencies that are paying this out is stunning.
  I want to make it clear that I am not against paid leave. There are 
many valid cases. But taxpayers deserve to know why Federal agencies 
are paying their employees not to work for over a year without 
sufficient documentation for taking such action. In fact, this ought to 
go for all paid leave, whether it is for 1 day, 1 month, or 1 year.
  Particularly, though, what ought to be ringing an alarm bell is 
someone who is on the record as receiving paid leave for several months 
or over a year--and I am only documenting that which was documented for 
over 1 year. Who knows how much this would total if we looked into 
every agency's policies and found out that they weren't documented and 
that they couldn't prove that the paid leave was legitimized.
  I need to give credit where credit is due. The Office of Personnel 
Management has finally recognized that this is a costly issue and has 
moved to take steps to address this misuse of taxpayer dollars. This 
summer, the agency announced guidance on what does and doesn't 
constitute paid administrative leave. I urge OPM to follow up now and 
ensure that all Federal agencies are implementing these 
recommendations. But why did it take us so long? Why do we have to have 
an investigative report? Where is the management? Where is the 
management in these agencies that oversees this and does not allow this 
to happen? Why do we have to wait for the Government Accountability 
Office to come in and audit these agencies and find this unbelievable 
amount of waste, fraud, and abuse that takes place?
  So taxpayers are on the hook for another $31 million of waste. We add 
that to our ever-growing total of waste, fraud, and abuse, now reaching 
well over--almost $119 billion. And we have Members down here talking 
about a program that needs funding because it is an essential program, 
but we don't have the money to do it. Others come down and say we can't 
cut a penny more from any of the programs we have--and that is another 
issue--and yet we continue to waste this kind of money.
  Next week it will be item No. 28 as we go forward exposing waste, 
fraud, and abuse in the Federal Government, taking hard-working 
taxpayers' dollars at a time when the economy is not doing all that 
well. This is something which continues to be a noose around the 
Federal Government's neck and which needs to be addressed.
  Madam President, with that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I was seeking the floor, but it is my 
understanding that Senator McConnell, our leader, is on his way to the 
floor. I will wait until he speaks. I don't think we have to ask for a 
quorum call because I think he will be here in just a minute.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.

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