Sam Gibbons: “last month the General Accounting Office study reported that a dozen of the largest Federal agencies squandered nearly…”

“last month the General Accounting Office study reported that a dozen of the largest Federal agencies squandered nearly $21 billion in 1999; $21 billion, Mr. Speaker. If the Federal government was a corporation, the CEO would have been fired by now. But instead, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, some of the Democrats, continue to fight for bigger government and increased spending plans of the Clinton-Gore administration, an administration which has never reprimanded its own bureaucratic agencies for their sloppy bookkeeping. It is obvious that the bookkeeping of our Federal agencies is in complete disarray. The Department of Education could not even complete its last audit. They ought to learn some basic third-grade math skills. Mr. Speaker, this irresponsible and wasteful government spending must come to a stop. It is time that the Clinton-Gore administration stop the sloppy math and join this Republican-led Congress to devote 90 percent of the surplus for debt reductions to protect social security and Medicare. That way, at least our budget surplus will not be squandered, too.”