Byron Dorgan: “Last Friday I was in the Senate briefly and indicated we were introducing legislation that repeals the law that was…”

“Last Friday I was in the Senate briefly and indicated we were introducing legislation that repeals the law that was passed in the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina that took the limitation on the credit cards carried by Federal employees from $2,500 to $250,000. That is right, the bill that responded with emergency funding for Katrina also included a provision that increased the limit on Federal credit cards that are carried by some 300,000 Federal workers, increased the top limit from $2,500 per purchase for $250,000 per purchase. When I discovered that, I thought, that is not right, that cannot be believable. It, in fact, was. I discovered the White House had requested that increase in the limit on Federal credit cards be provided. In fact, the person who came down to brief the Congress on that was Mr. Safavian, top procurement officer at the Office of Management and Budget, who was arrested 2 weeks later by the FBI and now has been indicted. But all this happened some weeks ago. The credit card limit went from $2,500 to $250,000 on the credit card that is carried by a Federal worker, and there are 390,000 or so around. I introduced with my colleague Senator Wyden a bill that would restore it back to the $2,500 limit. My point was, this is nuts. It is goofy to put a $250,000 limit on a credit card. It is unbelievable. I pointed out the Inspector General's reports and also the GAO reports about abuse of credit cards by some Federal employees.…”