Walter B. Jones: “on October 23, the Knight- Rider newspaper had a headline that said, ``Pentagon Program Costing Taxpayers Millions in…”

“on October 23, the Knight- Rider newspaper had a headline that said, ``Pentagon Program Costing Taxpayers Millions in Inflated Prices.'' I want to give a few examples, because, as we talk about budget resolution, budget cuts, or tax increases or whatever, if we just look at what is happening, and I am going to relay this to the House in just one moment, we ought to start looking at the inflated prices and what is going on at the Department of Defense. I am going to give examples. The Pentagon is paying $20 apiece for ice cube trays that cost 85 cents. In other words, you can go to a retail store and you get a plastic ice tray and pay 85 to 90 cents, yet the Department of Defense is paying $20. In addition, the Pentagon is now paying $81 apiece for coffee makers that were bought for years at just $29 from the manufacturer. So $81 now, and they were paying $29 for coffee makers. A commercial 7-foot refrigerator that the general public can buy for a little more than $17,000, the Pentagon is paying nearly $33,000 for the same refrigerator, for a markup of 89 percent. Mr. Speaker, I think about the tough decisions we are going to have to make here over the next few weeks, yet we are not even doing the oversight that should be done with the Department of Defense. Why, instead of using competitive bid contracting or buying directly from the manufacturers, is the Pentagon using middlemen who set their own prices and take the American taxpayers for millions of dollars?…”