[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18479-18480]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              GOLDEN DRAIN AWARDS TO CHERTOFF AND RUMSFELD

  (Mr. CARDOZA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. CARDOZA. Madam Speaker, the Truth Squad on Waste, Fraud and Abuse 
has been tasked with holding this administration and this Congress 
accountable for mishandling of taxpayer dollars.
  Last week the Truth Squad recognized the first two winners of the 
Golden Drain Award, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and 
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
  We created this award to bring attention to the waste, fraud and 
abuse in government. Otherwise it will never stop.
  Overseeing a department that has squandered billions of taxpayer 
dollars, Michael Chertoff and Donald Rumsfeld are clearly deserving of 
this inauspicious honor.
  In FEMA alone, we have seen billions of dollars go down the golden 
drain as a result of no-bid contracts and fraud

[[Page 18480]]

during the aftermath of the Katrina crisis.
  The Defense Department has been unable to produce a clean audit, and 
the Pentagon's track record of waste, fraud and mismanagement in Iraq 
under Mr. Rumsfeld is disgraceful.
  All told, the Truth Squad has identified over $150 billion that has 
gone down the golden drain.
  Republicans believe that government does not work, and this 
administration seems to prove it every single day. Enough is enough. It 
is time for a new direction.

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