[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 24801]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     PENTAGON PROGRAM COSTING TAXPAYERS MILLIONS IN INFLATED PRICES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, on October 23, the Knight-
Rider newspaper had a headline that said, ``Pentagon Program Costing 
Taxpayers Millions in Inflated Prices.'' I want to give a few examples, 
because, as we talk about budget resolution, budget cuts, or tax 
increases or whatever, if we just look at what is happening, and I am 
going to relay this to the House in just one moment, we ought to start 
looking at the inflated prices and what is going on at the Department 
of Defense. I am going to give examples.
  The Pentagon is paying $20 apiece for ice cube trays that cost 85 
cents. In other words, you can go to a retail store and you get a 
plastic ice tray and pay 85 to 90 cents, yet the Department of Defense 
is paying $20.
  In addition, the Pentagon is now paying $81 apiece for coffee makers 
that were bought for years at just $29 from the manufacturer. So $81 
now, and they were paying $29 for coffee makers.
  A commercial 7-foot refrigerator that the general public can buy for 
a little more than $17,000, the Pentagon is paying nearly $33,000 for 
the same refrigerator, for a markup of 89 percent.
  Mr. Speaker, I think about the tough decisions we are going to have 
to make here over the next few weeks, yet we are not even doing the 
oversight that should be done with the Department of Defense. Why, 
instead of using competitive bid contracting or buying directly from 
the manufacturers, is the Pentagon using middlemen who set their own 
prices and take the American taxpayers for millions of dollars?
  Again, this is an investigative new report. The high prices are a 
result of a Defense Department purchasing program called ``prime 
vendor,'' started by the Defense Logistics Agency, known as DLA. This 
program, which eliminates competition, is used to speed up deliveries.
  Defenders of the prime vendor program highlight the program's speed. 
Deliveries are fast, they say. However, critics indicate the advantages 
offered by prime vendors are overstated. Since competition is reduced, 
these prime vendors charge enormous prices for their services. More so, 
there are other government agents who have been eliminated that claim 
their services were just as fast and cheaper.
  There needs to be an investigation into the prime vendor program to 
ensure that taxpayers are not being taken advantage of. And I say that, 
Mr. Speaker, for this reason. I have written the Speaker of the House, 
the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Hunter), and I also wrote the gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Davis) of the oversight committee. We need to look into this.
  We need to do what is right for the taxpayers. I will tell you, Mr. 
Speaker, when we have so much in the way of a debt and deficit in this 
Nation, the easiest thing we can do is look at the Department of 
Defense, and if they are paying $20 for an 89 cent ice tray, if they 
are paying $81 for a coffee maker you can buy for $29, we have a real 
serious problem.
  I think in a bipartisan way we, as a House of Representatives, need 
to get together and ask those committee chairmen and the Speaker of the 
House to please look into this on behalf of the taxpayers of America.
  As I close, Mr. Speaker, always on the floor of this House I ask God 
to please bless our men and women in uniform, to please bless their 
families and hold in his loving arms the families who have given a 
child to die for freedom, and I ask God to please continue to bless 
America.

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