[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 75 (Thursday, May 12, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S2751]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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  SENATE RESOLUTION 461--COMMENDING THE SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR 
   AFGHANISTAN RECONSTRUCTION, JOHN SOPKO, AND HIS OFFICE FOR THEIR 
   EFFORTS IN PROVIDING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR TAXPAYER DOLLARS SPENT IN 
                              AFGHANISTAN

  Mr. PAUL submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 461

       Whereas the Office of Special Inspector General for 
     Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) was created in 2008 ``to 
     provide independent and objective analysis and supervision of 
     audits and investigations,'' ``to promote economy, 
     efficiency, and effectiveness,'' and to ``prevent and detect 
     waste, fraud, and abuse'' with regards to ``amounts 
     appropriated or otherwise made available for the 
     reconstruction of Afghanistan'';
       Whereas the Office of Special Inspector General for 
     Afghanistan Reconstruction has, under the leadership of SIGAR 
     John Sopko, been a strong voice for the good stewardship of 
     taxpayer dollars;
       Whereas Special Inspector General Sopko has provided 
     testimony 11 times before Congress;
       Whereas the recommendations of SIGAR have resulted in more 
     than $1,000,000,000 in potential savings;
       Whereas one investigation revealed contract bid-rigging and 
     price-fixing that led to the termination of a $1,000,000,000 
     Afghan Ministry of Defense fuel contract, resulting in 
     $214,000,000 in contract savings to the United States 
     Government;
       Whereas SIGAR investigations into waste, fraud, and abuse 
     have led to nearly 700 contractors being prohibited from 
     future United States Government contracts;
       Whereas SIGAR exposed mismanagement and fraud within the 
     United Nations-administered Law and Order Trust Fund for 
     Afghanistan, which provides billions of dollars in payments 
     to the Afghan National Police;
       Whereas SIGAR has further exposed poor attendance and 
     accounting procedures that allow the existence of non-
     existent Afghan ``ghost'' soldiers and police, whose salaries 
     are pocketed by corrupt officials;
       Whereas SIGAR discovered the expenditure of $6,000,000 on 9 
     goats meant to start a cashmere industry in Afghanistan, the 
     whereabouts of which are now unknown;
       Whereas SIGAR has attempted to provide accountability to 
     $210,000,000 spent on the construction of health care 
     facilities in Afghanistan, discovering that nearly 80 percent 
     of facilities have incorrect location data, where 13 
     facilities were built outside of Afghanistan, including one 
     in the Mediterranean Sea;
       Whereas SIGAR also investigated the circumstances that led 
     to the construction of a $36,000,000 United States military 
     command and control facility at Camp Leatherneck that the 
     commanders on the ground stated they neither wanted nor 
     needed, and which was never occupied;
       Whereas SIGAR brought to national attention that the 
     Department of Defense lost $29,000,000 worth of heavy 
     equipment, such as tractor trucks and cranes, which impeded 
     efforts to constitute an independent Afghan equivalent to the 
     Army Corp of Engineers; and
       Whereas SIGAR exposed the Department of Defense had spent 
     $43,000,000 on a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) filling 
     station, costing nearly 86 times more than a similar project, 
     and that further almost no vehicles in Afghanistan run on CNG 
     and the cost to convert a vehicle is more than the average 
     annual Afghan salary: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) commends the Office of the Special Inspector General 
     for Afghanistan Reconstruction for its ongoing role in 
     identifying and reducing waste, fraud, and abuse; and
       (2) urges all inspectors general to look to the Office of 
     the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction as an 
     example of the vigor and independence with which the Senate 
     expects inspectors general across government to pursue their 
     duty.

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