Martin Hoke: “Mr. Chairman, I rise to engage the gentleman from Indiana in a colloquy. Mr. Chairman, as you know, I recently submitted…”

“Mr. Chairman, I rise to engage the gentleman from Indiana in a colloquy. Mr. Chairman, as you know, I recently submitted for the Record this amendment which was designed to restore some degree of sanity to the official travel policies at the Department of Energy. I want to take a moment just to discuss the reasoning behind the amendment. Some months ago I began an investigation of the Secretary of Energy's proclivity to spend generously on herself and her aides in the course of what has been called or billed as 'official travel.' Through a preliminary inquiry into the agency's activities, it is apparent that Secretary O'Leary has already transferred in excess of $400,000 from nuclear accounts, including accounts used by scientists and technicians in the department's nuclear safeguards and security programs by pay for this travel. Although the Secretary claims that her use of official funds is not out of the ordinary, the facts paint an entirely different picture. According to a recent L.A. Times article, the Secretary believes in traveling in business and first class more often than not, and she spent approximately $815 per trip, for a total of nearly $50,000 on her domestic travels alone.”