David Obey: “Mr. Chairman, I would simply assert that this is not a request for an audit tonight. This, in my view, is simply another…”

“Mr. Chairman, I would simply assert that this is not a request for an audit tonight. This, in my view, is simply another ideological attack against an agency that a number of people in this House have never liked and would abolish if they had the votes to do so. We have been told that we cannot ask for a similar audit for a department which wastes far more money than any agency of government. And we are told that somehow we are supporting the taxpayers' interest to ask for this audit by the GAO. The fact is we currently spend $34 million each year of taxpayers' money to pay for 285 people who work for the Inspector General's Office of the Department of Education, and their full-time job is to investigate and audit the financial and management practices of the Department of Education. We are already spending $34 million to do that. Now, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Schaffer) wants us to duplicate that effort. I do not think it is for financial reasons. I think it is because this is just another way to harass an agency that they do not like. I would point out, maybe the Department of Education would have done a bit better in managing its operation if this Congress had not eliminated $65 million of the Department's request for program management funds since fiscal year 1996. And if the majority party had had its way, those fiscal management cuts would have exceeded $112 million. I think we understand what the target is.”