Bob Schaffer: “Yes, Mr. Speaker, Ernst and Young predicted that the Department of Education had fully been apprised of their…”

“Yes, Mr. Speaker, Ernst and Young predicted that the Department of Education had fully been apprised of their possibility that its controls were so lax and insufficient that waste, fraud and abuse could take place in the specific fund that ended up costing the constituents of the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Thune) $2 million. The thieves would have still been carrying on the caper were it not for, not the Department of Education finding this crime, but a sales agent as at a car dealership. I would like to underscore that for a second, just that whole action, because we spend $40 million a year in the Department of Education on accountants, on auditors, on people who are supposed to oversee the financial transactions of the Department. Their job, $40 million worth of them, their job is to make sure this kind of crime does not take place, to read the audit and put the proper controls in place so that the money gets to the children. They were warned. They paid for the warning. They paid for the expert advice. They ignored the warnings. The crime took place. Even with $40 million worth of auditors and accountants, they still had no idea. It took a sales agent at a car dealership to find the $2 million that was stolen from the South Dakota schools. That is why I find it so remarkable and gratifying that the children are writing letters to the proper person in this case.…”