Political Quotes

“I am getting the runaround from the inspector general at the Department of Defense, and my remarks, which are fairly lengthy, will be connected with that problem I am having. With sequestration looming on the horizon, Congress needs a truly independent Department of Defense audit oversight capability. We need it to root out waste. As my friend from Oklahoma, Senator Coburn, knows all too well, rooting out Department of Defense waste is no easy task. His new report identifies some excellent examples of waste ready for removal. I commend Senator Coburn for his outstanding work and stand ready to help him. But to successfully root out waste day in and day out, there must be a topnotch audit quality and capability in the hands of an inspector general who is ready and willing to use it effectively. I am reluctant to say this, but it needs to be said. I fear, and I suspect, that the independence of the inspector general's audit capability may have been compromised. I say this because of the story I am about to tell. This story is about a difficult audit, where the inspector general apparently got a bad case of weak knees and caved under pressure. The inspector general dropped the ball on an audit that should be a critical component in Secretary Panetta's good-faith effort to bring the Defense Department into compliance with the Chief Financial Officers Act. Today, the Department of Defense is the only Federal agency that cannot pass the test.…”