[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 14155]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    PAKISTAN COALITION SUPPORT FUNDS

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, in the wake of 9/11, Congress developed 
a new program to provide financial assistance to allied countries as 
they joined us in combating al-Qaida. This program reimbursed partner 
countries for defense spending above and beyond their normal military 
budget. And of the 27 coalition partner countries who receive this 
assistance--also known as Coalition Support Funds--Pakistan has been by 
far the largest recipient, receiving more than $5.5 billion out of a 
total $7 billion allocated for this program.
  This program could have been an important part of our global fight 
against terrorists who pose a very real threat to our country. But a 
new Government Accountability Office report shows that, in fact, the 
outcome was just the opposite. Over the past 7 years, U.S. taxpayer 
dollars have continued to flow with only minimal oversight while we 
have still not found Osama bin Laden and his senior officials and while 
al-Qaida has developed a safe haven in Pakistan.
  The GAO report details numerous examples of this wasteful spending, 
including $20 million paid to the Pakistani Government for road 
construction and $15 million to build bunkers--with no evidence that 
either was ever built. Or what about the more than $200 million 
provided for air defense radars with no analysis into whether such 
technology was needed to fight al-Qaida--an organization not known to 
have air force capacity? Confronting the threat of al-Qaida and its 
affiliates must be our top national security priority, and this GAO 
report sends a strong signal that we need to seriously step up our 
oversight when providing U.S. taxpayer dollars to our partners in this 
fight. We can not give them a blank check and expect to them to take 
care of the job.
  The Defense Department's carelessness and negligence has led to a 
situation where billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars cannot be fully 
accounted for. With so many domestic programs here at home feeling the 
brunt of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this is simply unacceptable. 
And given the implications for our national security both here at home 
and abroad, it cannot continue.

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