Unbelievable!
Wouldn’t you think that six years would be more than enough to pass a law meant to stop federal employees from stealing taxpayers’ money? Apparently not since the GAO* reported misuse of government credit cards in 2002 but the Government Credit Card Abuse Prevention Act wasn’t introduced until 2007 and is still stalled in the Senate.
Why is it taking so long to pass this bill? More to the point, why do we even need a new law? Aren’t fraud, stealing and misappropriation of funds already illegal? Perhaps one of the problems is that Washington refers to “government funds” instead of more properly calling it “taxpayer’s money.” It is after all our money intended to fund a government that is supposed to operate in our interests. If, as the OMB** says, the goal for the abuse of purchase cards is zero, why wasn’t a zero tolerance policy instituted in 2002?
Instead we now have a new GAO report about federal employees’ misuse of government credit cards in 2005 and 2006. Upsetting as that is, what is really outrageous is the mealy mouthed discussions and lack of action by those who are responsible for oversight and enforcing consequences for this misappropriation of our money.
It seems pretty straightforward: These federal employees have stolen taxpayers' money; They should be fired, prosecuted, and required to pay restitution. We need a special law for this? It takes over six years to get this special law in place? Who are these people in Washington and where exactly are their heads?
According to the new GAO review, 41 percent of roughly $14 billion in purchases were unauthorized or not properly received. 41percent of $14 billion is over $5.7 billion
G.S.A.*** administrator, Lurita Doan, said that many oversight measures were already in place but admitted there was room for improvement. I’d say $5.7 billion in problem purchases indicates the oversight measures aren’t very effective and “room for improvement” is a colossal understatement. Doan added that using the purchase cards saved about $1.8 billion in administrative costs each year. Perhaps that “savings” would be better used for oversight and accountability controls. Especially since that savings offsets only about 32 percent of the $5.7 billion problems.
The GAO recommendations seem to consist mainly of sending memos and reminders to agencies to be more vigilant about the authorizations and uses of the purchase cards. Say what? Isn’t that what manager and supervisor positions are all about? And what reasonably honest and at least minimally intelligent person needs to be reminded that taking things like iPods, computers, and LCD monitors that don’t belong to you, is stealing? Or that spending taxpayers’ money on suits, lingerie, Match.com, and a girlfriend’s breast augmentation is illegal? Send memos indeed! What are we paying agency managers and supervisors for if they have to be reminded it is their job to see that their subordinates are not treating taxpayers’ money like personal slush funds?
Why do we continue to allow our money to support such chronic incompetence – in federal agencies and in Congress? It is way past time to vote the incompetent out of office and elect people who will clean house in the agencies.
*GAO – Government Accountability Office - supports the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and helps improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. Known as "the investigative arm of Congress" and "the congressional watchdog." THEY GET A "D"
**OMB – Office of Management and Budget - predominant mission is to assist the President in overseeing the preparation of the federal budget and to supervise its administration in Executive Branch. In addition, OMB oversees and coordinates the Administration's procurement, financial management, information, and regulatory policies. In each of these areas, OMB's role is to help improve administrative management, to develop better performance measures and coordinating mechanisms, and to reduce any unnecessary burdens on the public.
THEY GET AN "F"
***GSA – General Services Administration - mission is to "help federal agencies better serve the public by offering, at best value, superior workplaces, expert solutions, acquisition services and management policies." GSA consists of the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), the Public Buildings Service (PBS), and various Staff Offices, including the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs (OCIA). Eleven Regional Offices extend GSA’s outreach to federal customers nationwide. THEY GET AN "F"
Congress - supposed to support government of the people, by the people and for the people. THEY GET AN "F"
Comments
Of course we need no new law to deal with “fraud, stealing and misappropriation of funds.” We didn’t need a new law to make torture illegal either. How do we interpret this sudden need for unnecessary new laws? I’d say it’s all a matter of giving post hoc immunity to those who have broken those laws, as well as the fact our government doesn’t want to prosecute, mainly because it makes “it” look bad. This would seem a moot point, since this government of the last seven years looks as bad as any government can. At the very least it is the worst government in American history.
GSA administrator Lurita Doan is a joke. She’s the one that allowed the Rove et al group to hold political meetings at the GSA in violation of the Hatch Act. When questioned during Senate hearings about a particular meeting, she couldn’t remember “anything” that took place at that meeting other than they served some refreshments. Even the GSA Inspector General was investigating this incident, because he was convinced there were sufficient grounds to do so.
This is all a cover up of sorts, a means of downplaying the situation. This Administration is corrupt, to the point of criminality, and totally incompetent as well. I guess what we are witnessing is trickle down incompetence and corruption. One thing you can say for the Republicans: not only do they hate government, but they don’t know how to govern as well.
The problem Trish is that most Americans feel impotent to do anything. The truth is we don’t know what to do about it all. It has become obvious that elections and the right to vote might have become meaningless. Far too many politicians don’t appear any longer to really represent the electorate. I blame Congress for the results of this present Administration perhaps even more than I blame that Administration. Congress has enabled everything that has taken place through inaction and the refusal to fulfill their role of oversight.
What is the solution? What can Americans do? Personally I believe Barack Obama does represent some hope. He appears to be a man of integrity with ideals for change that the nation is in sore need of. Hillary Clinton represents more of the same, and John McCain has become a typical pandering Republican clone. If Obama doesn’t win the Presidency, or if he does and fails to operate much differently from what we have witnessed in most politicians, it might be that the only real resort Americans have is a revolution of one sort or other.
Posted by: Stephen | April 15, 2008 04:26 PM
Stephen, I agree with everything you said down to your point about “elections and the right to vote might have become meaningless.”
Is not the vote and elections that have become meaningless, it is what we do with our right to vote that is the problem. We the people sent these dishonest and incompetent people to Washington to run our government and we continued to send them back even though it was painfully obvious they were not up to the job.
But it is not too late and we are not impotent. Correctly used, the vote is a powerful tool for change. We can still use that tool to get rid of those in Congress who are not representing us and elect people who will. And if the newly elected don’t represent us, then they too can be replaced by our vote.
Once we start using the power we have to prove that we will no longer tolerate “business as usual” in Washington we will begin to get the kind of government we want. What we can do is have a voting revolution. All that is needed is for citizens to start using their votes to put honest and competent public servants in office instead of allowing the media, political strategists, and pundits to manipulate our elections.
Posted by: Trish | April 15, 2008 08:13 PM
Trish, the last I heard, there was a very good possibility that not only the 2000 election ended up being rigged in Florida, but that there was grave doubt cast on the results in Ohio in 2004. And, where's the outcry? This nation may have experienced at least one coup d'etat that has left it seriously injured. That's part of what I meant about elections being dubious as a medium for "the people" to be heard. The other part is elected officials that basically give the finger to the electorate after they are in office. Until elections can be protected, and people elected can be held to their promises and representation, elections mean little as a means for changing the nation.
Posted by: Stephen | April 15, 2008 09:07 PM
Stephen, you are right about the 2004 election. It was undoubtedly stolen through the obvious voter fraud in Florida and the unprecedented action of the Supreme Court. I seriously doubt the American people would have just accepted Bush’s “win” had it not been for 9/11 which pushed everything else aside. (Interesting timing don’t you think?)
The 2004 election is less obvious in its manipulations though, as you said, questions persist about Ohio. I have followed the investigations and the efforts of organizations like Vote Trust USA to ensure that our elections can be trusted. It is an ongoing battle but one that is being waged. And I believe people are becoming more aware and involved and therefore making it more difficult for those who would tamper with elections to do so. There is nothing these corrupt people dread as much as an engaged citizenry.
It is important that we are aware of the skullduggery that has been and continues to be a threat to open and honest elections. But it seems to me that it is just as important that we believe we can protect our elections because that is the first necessary step in fighting to make it so. If we allow ourselves to become discouraged it makes us feel helpless but we are not. No matter what they try to do, we outnumber them. And those numbers give us a power we must learn to use.
Throughout my life I have seen people overcome apparently insurmountable odds just because they believed they could. That is the way I feel about the awful things that have been done to my country these past seven years (actually the damage really started in the Reagan era). I know, deep down, that if we refuse to give up, continue working to make more and more people aware, and believe no matter what that we can turn things around, then we can and we will.
Whew! Sorry about that soapbox moment. But your writing, your efforts to wake up others, and what I sense as the goodness and kindness at your core makes me feel you are a kindred spirit. So, believe Stephen, we will not allow them to steal our country out from under us.
Posted by: Trish | April 16, 2008 10:34 AM