On the recordNovember 9, 2015
I am back on the floor once again for my ``Waste of the Week.'' I have been doing this for well over 20 weeks-- highlighting waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayers' money. It is said we cannot afford to cut another dime, that programs are too important. I question that since the Government Accountability Office, the Office of Management and Budget, and the congressional accounting office have all looked at various Federal programs and said: Why in the world are you doing this in the first place? It is no longer relevant. It is a waste of money. The function has already been taken care of. Today we are going to highlight yet another situation where this money ought to be going into either higher priority uses--such as Department of Defense or funding soldiers or veterans or something such as that--or not take it from the taxpayer in the first place. And as we document each week, our account keeps growing in terms of money that falls clearly into the category of waste, fraud, and abuse. Today's situation is a little bit different because the money is not being spent. Then the question is, OK, it is reserved for something, right? It was, but that action has been fulfilled. So why is that money still sitting there and who is using it or if it is not being used, why isn't it redirected and returned to the taxpayer? Let me talk about this program.…
