[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 25596]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      THE FORGOTTEN U.S. TAXPAYER

  (Mr. MORAN of Kansas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of the forgotten 
U.S. taxpayer. On Wednesday, Neil Barofsky, the special inspector 
general overseeing TARP, said that recouping the billions of dollars 
given to the insurer AIG and automakers GM and Chrysler ``is far from 
certain.'' He also noted that $50 billion set aside to help struggling 
homeowners lower their mortgage payments will yield ``no direct 
return.''
  Also on Wednesday, the former chief of the Obama administration's 
task force on the auto industry, Steven Rattner, commented on the $20 
billion previously lent to GM, ``I don't think we are going to see it 
again,'' meaning that all the money is gone.
  What is wrong with this picture? $50 billion here, $20 billion there. 
What am I missing? How can we spend, spend, spend without any 
accountability?
  I am concerned as I travel across Kansas, my great State, that I hear 
countless Kansans express doubts that Congress and bureaucrats would 
make wise decisions with their tax dollars. They were right. With some 
of these unwise investment decisions that I mentioned today, I think a 
dose of Kansas commonsense is desperately needed in Washington, DC.

                          ____________________