Chris Chocola: “tonight I rise in support and cooperation of my colleagues, the Washington Waste Watchers, who were here earlier this…”

“tonight I rise in support and cooperation of my colleagues, the Washington Waste Watchers, who were here earlier this evening. I unfortunately come to the floor tonight to share another example of wasted taxpayer dollars. Mr. Speaker, according to a report released by the General Accounting Office in May, taxpayers have paid hundreds and thousands of dollars and, in reality, probably much, much more for Federal employees to obtain bogus degrees from unaccredited postsecondary schools, also known as diploma mills. These so-called diploma mills sell academic degrees based upon life experience, sometimes based on negligible academic work, and some require no academic work at all. They simply sell degrees for a price. The first 2 days of congressional hearings on fake degree-granting institutions, the director of GAO special investigations testified the data collected on just two of those diploma mills show Federal payments of almost $170,000 for bogus degrees. He also said the number is likely an underestimate, even for those two institutions; and he expects a broader investigation of nearly 140 known diploma mills would reveal many more cases of federally financed phony degrees. The GAO report found that 463 Federal employees, including 28 senior-level officials, have listed diploma mill degrees on their resumes.”