Frank Pallone: “earlier this week the Pentagon did something that the House Republican leadership should have done many months ago, and…”

“earlier this week the Pentagon did something that the House Republican leadership should have done many months ago, and that is they opened a criminal fraud investigation into Halliburton. The Pentagon is expected to investigate the overcharging of at least $61 million for fuel shipped from Iraq to Kuwait. Halliburton has also been accused of charging the government for meals it never served at dining facilities in Iraq and Kuwait. The company agreed to reimburse the government $27.4 million for potential overcharges related to the meals and $6.2 million to cover other potential overcharges. Now, Mr. Speaker, all I can say is it is about time. I have been coming to the floor with a group of my Democratic colleagues to highlight these possible overcharges by Halliburton and called on the House Republican leadership to hold open hearings on whether or not Halliburton is overcharging the American taxpayer with its reconstruction work in Iraq. Instead, the Senate and the House, both controlled by Republicans, continue to turn a blind eye to possible waste and mismanagement by Halliburton in Iraq. Congressional Republicans even refuse to question the Bush administration on the billions of dollars of taxpayer money now going to Halliburton, much less create any special committee to oversee these funds. I ask you, Mr. Speaker, what are my Republican colleagues afraid of? Why do they refuse to hold Halliburton accountable for the billions it is now spending in Iraq?”