Political Quotes

“today I had the opportunity to do something that millions of Americans would love to do: I asked the Internal Revenue Service to account for the use of its taxpayer dollars. Representing the Committee on Government Reform at the Joint Committee on Taxation's annual review of the Internal Revenue Service, I took part in what is an absolutely essential function of Congress: oversight and reform. Too often, both Members of Congress and voters forget that this body is not here just to pass new laws and spend more money. We are here to review and to reform the programs that we have already created and the money that we have already spent on those programs. In 2001, the Federal Government could not account for $17.3 billion, according to the Treasury Department. That is 17.3 billion taxpayer dollars. The U.S. General Accounting Office, the GAO, has refused to certify the Federal Government's own accounting books because the bookkeeping is so poor, and 21 of the 26 departments and major agencies received the lowest rating possible for their financial management, meaning that auditors cannot even express an opinion on their financial statements. Clearly, we are talking about significant sums of money. I think many of my colleagues would agree that when it comes to hard-earned taxpayer dollars, there is no such thing as insignificant waste.”