[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6370-6371]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           MONEY FOR NOTHING

  (Mr. MESSER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MESSER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to highlight more wasteful 
government spending.
  The Washington Post recently reported that the Federal Government 
will spend at least $890,000 on service fees for more than 13,000 empty 
bank accounts this year. Let me say that again. Our Federal Government 
will spend $890,000 servicing 13,000 empty bank accounts with a balance 
of zero.
  The President's OMB thinks that's good news because the number of 
these so-called zero balance accounts has decreased by 50 percent over 
the past several years. I think we can do better. We must close these 
empty bank accounts and put the money sitting in the inactive ones to 
good use, like reducing the

[[Page 6371]]

deficit. I plan to introduce legislation soon that will do just that.
  Madam Speaker, President Reagan once noted how only in Washington 
does it make sense for the agency responsible for everything outside to 
be called the Department of the Interior. I would add that only in 
Washington is it good news when the government spends $1 million on 
nothing.

                          ____________________