Byron Dorgan: “This is a towel. Halliburton was to purchase towels for the troops, hand towels. You know, they were purchasing hand…”

“This is a towel. Halliburton was to purchase towels for the troops, hand towels. You know, they were purchasing hand towels to be awarded to the troops. So he ordered some white hand towels for the troops, and his boss said: Well, you can't order those white hand towels. You have to order the hand towels that have the logo of our company, ``Kellogg, Brown & Root,'' on the hand towel. Mr. Bunting said: Yes, but that would quadruple the cost. His boss said: That doesn't matter. This is a cost-plus contract. Order the towels. Put our company name on them. I mean, this is such a small but important symbol of the behavior that went on for most of the decade that fleeced the American taxpayers. We had a hearing in which we were told by a food service supervisor of Kellogg, Brown & Root that Kellogg, Brown & Root charged the Federal Government for serving 42,000 meals a day to American soldiers but they were only serving 14,000 meals. They were charging the taxpayer for 42,000 meals--according to this supervisor who was on the ground and then left the company in disgust--they were charging the taxpayers, the American Government, for 42,000 meals a day for soldiers and serving only 14,000 meals a day. We had testimony about brand new $85,000 trucks being left on the side of the road to be torched because they had a flat tire or a plugged fuel pump. Why? Cost-plus. A new truck. Taxpayers will buy another one.”