Randy Neugebauer: “I rise today because of the serious concerns I have about wasteful spending practices by the United States Government.…”

“I rise today because of the serious concerns I have about wasteful spending practices by the United States Government. Waste, fraud and abuse is rampant. Financial management, for instance, at the Department of State is a problem. Although it accounts for billion of dollars annually in appropriations and possesses over $20 billion in assets, it usually cannot determine how much its programs cost or how much money it has. An audit revealed that the State Department owes $3.5 million on past orders that have never been delivered, a revelation which the Department's accounting books failed to reflect. One contract billed the Department for $92,000 in insurance premiums for a policy that never existed. The financial management service at the Department of Treasury could not produce details on many outstanding checks, and in one case, caused a $3.1 billion overstatement of its cash position. The Inspector General reviewed 24 individual cases of government purchase on credit cards at the same department. The investigation revealed that purchases were unsupported and unjustified, and while none of those were large, had large price tags, they concluded that the system is more than moderately subject to fraud, waste and abuse.”