[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11192]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               URGING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR TAXPAYER DOLLARS

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, this Congress has cut and run from its 
responsibility of oversight, to ensure that the taxpayer money is spent 
wisely. By last count, nearly $10 billion of the funds set aside for 
Iraq reconstruction cannot be found. Vanished. $10 billion gone.
  And now the Government Accountability Office reports that 16 percent 
of the aid distributed after Katrina, $1.4 billion, was spent 
fraudulently. Some of the money went to pay for a bottle of Dom 
Perignon, Caribbean vacations, ``Girls Gone Wild'' videos.
  That may be one heck of a vacation, but it is a horrendous use of the 
taxpayer dollars. Instead of rooting out incompetence and fraud and 
waste and abuse, the Congress has actually protected it. No oversight. 
No accountability.
  By failing in their oversight responsibility, by failing to ask the 
tough questions and hold the administration accountable for their 
actions, the Republican Congress is a willing accomplice to the 
greatest taxpayer ripoff since the Teapot Dome. We just sent an 
additional $94.5 billion to Iraq and the gulf coast without a single 
act of accountability or oversight. It is time for a change. It is time 
for a new direction.

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