H268 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE January 14, 2009 

Kingston 

Kline (MN) 

Lamborn 

Latham 

Latta 

Lewis (CA) 

Linder 

Lucas 

Luetkemeyer 

Lummis 

Lungren, Daniel 

E. 

Mack 

Manzullo 

Marchant 

Marshall 

McCarthy (CA) 

McCaul 

McClintock 

McHenry 

McKeon 

McMorris 

Rodgers 

Mica 

Miller (FL) 

Miller, Gary 

Myrick 

Neugebauer 

Nunes 

Olson 

Paul 

Pence 

Pitts 

Poe (TX) 

Posey 

Price (GA) 

Putnam 

Radanovich 

Roe (TN) 

Rogers (KY) 

Rogers (MI) 

Rohrabacher 

Rooney 

Roskam 

Royce 

Ryan (WI) 

Scalise 

Schmidt 

Schock 

Sensenbrenner 

Sessions 

Shadegg 

Shimkus 

Shuster 

Smith (NE) 

Smith (TX) 

Souder 

Stearns 

Terry 

Thornberry 

Tiahrt 

Walden 

Wamp 

Westmoreland 

Whitfield 

Wilson (SC) 

Wittman 

NOT VOTING—6 

Boucher 

Meeks (NY) 

Sherman 

Snyder 

Solis (CA) 

Sullivan 

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE

The SPEAKER pro tempore (during 

the vote). There are 2 minutes remaining on this vote. 

b 1445 

So the bill was passed. 

The result of the vote was announced 

as above recorded. 

A motion to reconsider was laid on 

the table. 

Stated for: 

Mr. MEEKS of New York. Madam Speaker, 

on Rollcall No. 16, I was avoidably delayed 

and just missed the vote. Had I been present, 

I would have voted ‘‘aye.’’ 

f 

b 1445 

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER 

PRO TEMPORE 

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. 

HOLDEN). Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 

XX, the Chair will postpone further 

proceedings today on a motion to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote 

or the yeas and nays are ordered, or on 

which the vote is objected to under 

clause 6 of rule XX. 

Any record vote on the postponed 

question will be taken later. 

f 

REQUIRING COMMITTEES TO INVESTIGATE REPORTS OF WASTE, 

FRAUD, ABUSE, OR MISMANAGEMENT 

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I move 

to suspend the rules and agree to the 

resolution (H. Res. 40) amending the 

Rules of the House of Representatives 

to require each standing committee to 

hold periodic hearings on the topic of 

waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement 

in Government programs which that 

committee may authorize, and for 

other purposes, as amended. 

The Clerk read the title of the resolution. 

The text of the resolution is as follows: 

H. RES. 40 

Resolved, That clause 2 of rule XI of the 

Rules of the House of Representatives is 

amended by adding at the end the following 

new paragraphs: 

‘‘(n)(1) Each standing committee, or a subcommittee thereof, shall hold at least one 

hearing during each 120-day period following 

the establishment of the committee on the 

topic of waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement in Government programs which that 

committee may authorize. 

‘‘(2) A hearing described in subparagraph 

(1) shall include a focus on the most egregious instances of waste, fraud, abuse, or 

mismanagement as documented by any report the committee has received from a Federal Office of the Inspector General or the 

Comptroller General of the United States. 

‘‘(o) Each committee, or a subcommittee 

thereof, shall hold at least one hearing in 

any session in which the committee has received disclaimers of agency financial statements from auditors of any Federal agency 

that the committee may authorize to hear 

testimony on such disclaimers from representatives of any such agency. 

‘‘(p) Each standing committee, or a subcommittee thereof, shall hold at least one 

hearing on issues raised by reports issued by 

the Comptroller General of the United States 

indicating that Federal programs or operations that the committee may authorize are 

at high risk for waste, fraud, and mismanagement, known as the ‘high-risk list’ or 

the ‘high-risk series’.’’. 

SEC. 2. Clause 1(d)(3) of rule XI of the Rules 

of the House of Representatives is amended 

by adding at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘That section shall also delineate any 

hearings held pursuant to clauses 2(n), (o), or 

(p) of this rule.’’. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 

California (Mr. CARDOZA) and the gentleman from California (Mr. DREIER) 

each will control 20 minutes. 

The Chair recognizes the gentleman 

from California (Mr. CARDOZA). 

GENERAL LEAVE

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I ask 

unanimous consent that all Members 

have 5 legislative days within which to 

revise and extend their remarks and to 

include extraneous material on House 

Resolution 40. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there 

objection to the request of the gentleman from California? 

There was no objection. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 

myself such time as I may consume. 

Mr. Speaker, make no mistake about 

it, these are tough times for our country. The United States is facing an economic disaster unlike anything we 

have seen since the Great Depression. 

In the coming weeks, there will surely be differences of opinion as to how 

to best address the ailments of our Nation. But one thing is certain: Now, 

more than ever, it is time to ensure 

that government spends the taxpayers’ 

money wisely. 

For the first 6 years of the Bush administration, there was virtually no 

oversight by the Republican-led Congress. This led to rampant fraud and 

abuse, and billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars that were squandered by 

the administration, particularly regarding Iraq reconstruction and the response to Katrina. 

Beginning in January of 2007, the 

Democratic Congress turned a new 

page and took numerous steps to begin 

changing the way we do business by restoring accountability and oversight. 

House Resolution 40, introduced by my 

very good friend and fellow Blue Dog 

colleague, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. TANNER), and myself, simply adds another layer to the rigorous 

oversight measures that we have already established. 

This resolution amends the House 

rules to require each standing committee to hold at least three hearings 

per year on waste, fraud and abuse 

under each respective committee’s jurisdiction. It requires a hearing in the 

event that an agency’s auditor issues a 

disclaimer that the agency’s financial 

statements are not in order. It also requires a hearing if an agency under 

that respective committee’s jurisdiction has a program deemed by the GAO 

to be at high risk for waste, fraud and 

abuse. 

Mr. Speaker, at the request of my 

friends on the other side of the aisle, 

there are two other stipulations. First, 

that the resolution shall be considered 

in light of existing House rules governing the conduct of committee hearings, including hearings held in executive session and the treatment of executive session materials; and, second, to 

require that committee activities reports identify the hearings held under 

the resolution. 

Friends, plain and simple, it is now 

time to audit America’s books. This 

resolution will add another level of accountability by shining light on the 

most egregious cases of government 

waste. 

I would add, Mr. Speaker, that I am 

very encouraged by President-elect 

Obama’s statements regarding his intent to pore through the budget lineby-line to eliminate wasteful spending. 

However, while I take the Presidentelect at his word, this resolution demonstrates that this Democratic Congress will not turn a blind eye to government waste simply because there is 

now a Democratic administration. Free 

passes are over, and we must build 

upon increased oversight and accountability efforts. 

We have an opportunity to reinvent 

government and adhere to the fiscal accountability measures that Blue Dogs 

have long advocated. This will require 

tough decisions. But given these challenging economic times, cutting out 

waste, fraud and abuse must be among 

our top priorities in this Congress. All 

this requires is some bureaucratic soulsearching. 

I ask my colleagues on both sides of 

the aisle to join the Blue Dogs in this 

quest. 

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of 

my time. 

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 

myself such time as I may consume, 

and I very gladly rise in strong support 

of this resolution, and, more importantly, in the bipartisan spirit in which 

it has been shaped. 

The basic idea behind this resolution, 

as my friend has said, is to ensure that 

committees are fulfilling their oversight duties and fully addressing the 


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January 14, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H269 

need to eliminate waste, fraud and 

abuse from our Federal budget. While 

we always have a duty to spend taxpayer dollars wisely, as we all know, 

this obligation has never, ever been 

more critical than it is today because 

of our economic environment. We cannot afford to waste a penny of the taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars. 

But the best of intentions must be 

implemented wisely or the effort will 

be wasted. Republicans had a number 

of suggestions for strengthening this 

resolution and to make it more effective. While we would have preferred to 

have this resolution go through regular 

order, we were very pleased, nonetheless, to find the process to be both consultative and collaborative. Ultimately, our modifications were incorporated into the final product. 

Our primary concern was one of 

transparency. Requiring committees to 

hold hearings on egregious reports of 

waste, fraud and abuse is important. 

But without transparency, there can be 

no accountability. We simply asked 

that hearings on the reports of inspectors general or the Comptroller General be included in each committee’s 

survey of activity. These surveys are a 

matter of public record. 

By including this information, the 

taxpayers will be able to directly follow the oversight activities of committees. They will have the opportunity to 

judge for themselves the level of scrutiny that is given to serious allegations 

of wasted taxpayer dollars. Our request 

for greater transparency is reflected in 

the resolution that is before us today. 

We also asked for further clarification on the protections put in place to 

safeguard classified material. Again, 

the majority was receptive to our request and provided the necessary clarifications. 

We have one final area of concern 

which I would pose as a question to the 

majority manager: As we work to 

eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, it is 

essential that we do not neglect to 

turn the microscope inward and examine our own operations right here in 

this institution. The legislative branch 

must also be fully accountable to the 

taxpayer. 

I would hope that legislative branch 

inspectors general, such as those in the 

Offices of the Architect of the Capitol, 

the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian, be subjected to the same scrutiny as other inspectors general are imposing on their parts of government. 

I would ask the gentleman for a clarification in this matter. Do these legislative inspectors general fall under the 

definition of the Federal Office of the 

Inspector General pursuant to the proposed subparagraph (n)(2)? 

I yield to the gentleman for his response. 

Mr. CARDOZA. I thank my colleague 

and friend for yielding and for his 

thoughtful suggestions. 

In fact, yes, the Committee on House 

Administration is covered under this 

resolution, and the other measures, as 

you have indicated, have already been 

incorporated as well. 

Mr. DREIER. Good. 

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for 

his response, and I would also like to 

thank the majority staff, particularly 

majority council Sampak Garg, for 

their consultative approach to this resolution. I believe that this measure 

puts forth a workable and effective 

means of improving committee oversight and I believe that the quality of 

the end product is a direct result of the 

bipartisan collaboration that took 

place throughout the process. 

It is my sincere hope, Mr. Speaker, 

that future efforts of the Rules Committee can be similarly driven by consultation and collaboration. 

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of 

my time. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 

minutes to my good friend, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. TANNER), 

the author of the measure. 

Mr. TANNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank 

the gentleman, and Mr. DREIER, I appreciate your comments. What we are 

attempting to do is to reestablish congressional oversight. 

Congress authorizes and appropriates 

money, but we don’t actually spend it. 

So when we are asking the administration, whoever it may be, Democrat, Republican, whoever, to come up here and 

explain some of the things that we 

have seen in the paper by this instrument we are talking about here, I 

think all of us benefit. 

What basically H.R. 40 does is it puts 

in place a systematic mechanism for 

regular oversight, not only just waste, 

fraud and abuse, but, as Mr. CARDOZA

said in his opening remarks, whenever 

there is an auditor’s disclaimer, that 

will trigger a hearing to hopefully ask 

them why they had to file a disclaimer; 

what is the information they didn’t receive, why didn’t they receive it, who 

is withholding it, so we can actually fix 

something around here for a change. 

b 1500 

And then, of course, the third thing, 

those two look backwards sort of at 

what already may have happened. The 

third provision looks ahead. 

Every year, as you know, the GAO 

identifies, or every Congress, high risk 

programs. That basically is government talk for programs that don’t 

work as they were intended when they 

were passed by Congress. And so, when 

that happens, there is a hearing to 

identify those high risk programs into 

the future so that we can either fix 

them or abolish them. 

Without getting into it, there were 

some 13,000 IG recommendations, Inspector General recommendations that 

went unattended in recent years. That 

is not only our fault, but it is, in my 

view, a dereliction of the duty of the 

Congress as a separate and independent 

branch from this or any other administration. And so what we are attempting to do, again, is to put in place a 

systematic, structural oversight mechanism where the House will look at not 

only what we are going to do, but what 

we’ve already done. 

And so, again, I appreciate your comments. 

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, at this 

time I am very happy to yield 3 minutes to our hardworking new ranking 

member of the Committee on Oversight 

and Government Reform, my friend 

from San Diego (Mr. ISSA). 

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, almost every 

day the Government Accountability 

Office and Inspector Generals issue a 

report identifying waste, fraud, abuse 

and mismanagement. The Federal Government is large, and we can use all 

the help we can get. Unfortunately, 

these important reports often go 

unread. They fall, without testimony, 

on deaf ears, and Congress does little 

or nothing about it. 

I welcome the fact, Mr. Speaker, 

today that we are setting a baseline, a 

starting point for oversight by the authorization committees. I’m pleased to 

serve on the committee that has broad 

jurisdiction, and by agreement with 

the Rules Committee, and with the 

leadership of Chairman TOWNS, we have 

secured the fact that nothing in this 

rules change would limit the unlimited 

jurisdiction of the Committee on Oversight and Reform to, in fact, look at 

these same reports and to hold hearings on any one or any 13,000 of these 

various remaining claims as the Bush 

administration leaves. 

Mr. Speaker, I want to speak particularly to Mr. TANNER’s statement which, 

I think, was appropriate, and should be 

dealt with. During the Bush administration, 98,000 such findings came out 

of the GAO and the IGs. 13,000 were not 

dealt with during that administration, 

roughly a 14 percent leftover. 

I look forward to the fact that the 

Government Oversight and Reform 

Committee will have the help of all the 

authorization committees to look into 

those, and I look forward to working 

on a bipartisan basis, both within the 

committee of primary oversight and 

with each the committees of jurisdiction, because I think it’s important 

that as we allow a new administration 

to set goals, we deal with all of the 

leftovers, the 13,000 that perhaps would 

have been taken care of in the ordinary 

course, but now need to be quickly 

looked at so the new administration 

can get on to its agendas. And of 

course, as time goes on, I suspect that 

we will be looking at failures that 

occur on the new President’s watch. 

I look forward to working with the 

gentleman from California on a bipartisan basis, to deal with the remaining 

roughly 14 percent of those that occurred on President Bush’s watch. 

I look forward to this legislation. I 

once again commend Chairman TOWNS

for his work to make sure that the 

committee of primary oversight is not 

limited by this resolution. We’ve been 

assured that it isn’t. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, may I 

inquire how much time is remaining on 

both sides? 


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H270 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE January 14, 2009 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from California (Mr. CARDOZA) 

has 13 minutes remaining. The gentleman from California (Mr. DREIER) 

has 14 minutes remaining. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I would 

like to now yield such time as he may 

consume to Mr. TANNER to insert an 

item into the RECORD. 

Mr. TANNER. I thank the gentleman 

for yielding. 

PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT, 

Washington, DC, January 13, 2009. 

Representative JOHN TANNER, 

1226 Longworth House Office Building, 

Washington, DC. 

DEAR REPRESENTATIVE TANNER: Thank you 

for the opportunity to present the views of 

the Project On Government Oversight 

(POGO) regarding H.Res. 40, which requires 

each standing committee of the House of 

Representatives to hold periodic hearings on 

the topics of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. We believe that having such a 

systematic approach to oversight enshrined 

in the Rules of the House would greatly enhance Congressional oversight of executive 

agencies’ programs and functions. 

As you may know, POGO is a non-partisan 

nonprofit that for more than 27 years has investigated and exposed corruption and other 

misconduct in an effort to make federal 

agencies more effective, accountable, open, 

and honest. 

For the past 18 months we have been engaged in an in-depth study of the Inspector 

General system, examining both the law and 

how the system works. We issued one report 

last February on issues affecting IGs’ independence (www.pogo.org/pogo-files/reports/ 

government-oversight/inspectors-generalmany-lack-essential-tools-for-independence/ 

go-ig–20080226.html), and are pleased to note 

that several of our suggestions were incorporated into last year’s Inspector General 

Reform Act (H.R. 928, P.L. 110–409). We are 

planning to issue a second report in the coming months regarding IGs’ performance and 

accountability. 

One of our conclusions is that Congress 

needs to pay much more attention to the 

work of both IGs and the GAO. Too often reports on important issues are left languishing, unread, on the desks and shelves of 

Congressional staffers. It has been 30 years 

since Congress created the IG system, and we 

believe it was a brilliant and unique concept—to place internal watchdogs in most 

federal agencies where they would both prevent and root out waste, fraud, and abuse, 

and encourage federal programs to be more 

effective and efficient. 

However, this wonderful system can only 

work if Congress pays attention to the resulting reports. Inspectors General have no 

enforcement powers. They cannot force an 

agency to do anything. If an agency will not 

fix a broken program, then it is up to Congress to force them to do so. 

Frankly, there are two problems with 

Congress’s ignoring IG reports—one is the 

more common, when the IG has done good 

work and makes important recommendations that need to be but are not implemented. The other problem is the flip side to 

this—some IGs produce only mediocre work 

and do not challenge their agencies aggressively enough. Congress needs to pay attention in both cases. 

For all of these reasons, we support the 

passage of H. Res. 40 to require each House 

committee to conduct at least one hearing 

during each 120-day period regarding waste, 

fraud, abuse, and mismanagement of the 

agencies under its jurisdiction; at least one 

additional hearing if there are disclaimers in 

any agency’s financial report; and at least 

one additional hearing if a program is listed 

as ‘‘high risk.’’ 

Again, we appreciate your asking us for 

our views and look forward to working with 

you to make Congressional oversight more 

aggressive and effective. 

Sincerely, 

DANIELLE BRIAN, 

Executive Director. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I would 

like to now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin, my very good 

friend, Mr. KIND. 

Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, I rise as one 

of the leaders of the new Democratic 

Coalition in strong support of this resolution. And I commend my two good 

friends from Tennessee and California 

for bringing this resolution before us 

and for the leadership that they have 

consistently shown on all matters pertaining to fiscal responsibility in this 

place. 

This legislation is the proverbial disinfectant that we are in desperate need 

of. By systematically requiring the 

committees of jurisdiction to periodically hold hearings in order to identify 

and root out waste, fraud and abuse 

and mismanagement in the Federal 

agencies and with the Federal programs, it’s an important step for us to 

get our fiscal house in order. 

This is a bipartisan problem, and it’s 

going to require a bipartisan solution 

for it. So I’m encouraged that our 

friends across the aisle also see the 

need and the necessity to move forward 

in this systematic fashion to deal with 

it. This, coupled with President-elect 

Obama’s decision to create and to appoint a chief performance officer in the 

White House, I feel, is a good, 1, 2 

punch in order to root out some of the 

redundancy and excess waste and abuse 

that takes place with Federal programs. 

But we should also be clear that this 

is a first step of many steps that we 

will have to take to get our fiscal 

house in order. 

Unfortunately, the economy’s 

tanking and in the short-term, we’re 

going to be dealing with a stimulus 

package which will all be deficit financing; and there’s great consensus 

that we have to do it. But in the long 

term, the picture looks very bleak. 

In fact, the Treasury Department 

last month issued their annual audit 

report that shows that over the next 75 

years, we have a $57 trillion unfunded 

liability facing our Nation; clearly, a 

glide path to unsustainability. That’s 

more the net worth of all of us in this 

Country. And at some point we have to 

put a formal process in place, whether 

it’s the creation of a fiscal commission 

or some form of bipartisan budget summit to deal with a long term strategy 

to get this fiscal house back in order. A 

$57 trillion unfunded liability sets the 

next generation up for failure. This, 

along with more efforts on fiscal responsibility, is something we’re going 

to have to come to grips with very 

shortly. I encourage my colleagues to 

support the resolution. 

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 

myself such time as I might consume 

to respond to some of the remarks 

made by my friend from Wisconsin. I 

have to say that this notion of our 

working together to put in place what 

I believe should be a bipartisan, bicameral effort to deal with this overall 

question of budget process reform is 

something that I’ve been privileged to 

champion for a long period of time. 

And I think that it is now way, way, 

way, overdue. 

I personally am a strong proponent of 

our moving towards a biennial budget 

process. I think that if you look at the 

potential benefits to having the Federal Government contract on a 2-year 

basis for something like energy, think 

of what the savings for the U.S. taxpayer would be. 

And if you look at a wide range of 

other areas, as many States have done, 

the notion of having a 2-year cycle 

would enhance our ability to do exactly what this resolution is encouraging, and that is, greater oversight. 

So I think that that is something that 

is important, and I hope that we will be 

able to put that into place. 

And with that, Mr. Speaker, I am 

very happy to yield 2 minutes to our 

hardworking second-term Member, the 

gentleman from Urbana, Ohio (Mr. JORDAN). 

Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I 

rise today in support of the resolution. 

Look, we all know the facts. We’ve 

got a $10 trillion national debt. I believe last November the Treasury Department reported that we ran the 

largest single monthly deficit in American history. From 1789 to 1987 we accumulated $2 trillion in national debt. 

This fiscal year, and last fiscal year we 

will add $2 trillion. So what it took us 

200 years to do, we’ve done in 2 years. 

This is a good first step, something 

we need to do. And we need to look at 

every single line item in the Federal 

budget, every single agency. And so I 

want to applaud both parties and the 

President-elect for bringing this forward. 

I gave a speech the other night back 

home in Ohio and I said to the group, I 

said, who’s going to bail out the bailout? And everyone kind of looked at 

me because they get it. They understand it’s going to be the American 

taxpayer. Worse yet, it’s going to be future American taxpayers, our kids and 

our grandkids. And so it’s important 

that we do everything we can to look 

at where there’s waste, where there’s 

redundancy, where there’s fraud, where 

there’s crazy things in the Federal 

Government that we need to get a handle on and reduce spending so we can 

help families in the future and continue this great country that we call 

America. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I would 

like to thank the thoughtful words of 

both our previous two speakers. I think 

their suggestions are very well-taken. 

Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield 2 

minutes to the gentleman from New 


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January 14, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H271 

York, the chairman of the Government 

Oversight Committee, Mr. TOWNS. 

Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in 

support of this amendment to the 

House rules that emphasizes the importance of congressional oversight. 

As Chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I am 

pleased that this resolution requires all 

standing committees to include reviews of waste, fraud and abuse in their 

regular schedule of hearings. We need 

to attack waste, fraud and abuse every 

way that we possibly can. 

This rule, in no way diminishes the 

jurisdiction of the Oversight Committee. Instead, it complements the 

Oversight Committee by ensuring that 

our committee’s focus on government 

accountability carries through to the 

authorizing committees for each agency. 

The ranking member, Mr. ISSA, and I 

agree that the Oversight Committee 

will continue to review all of the GAO 

and Inspector General reports that our 

committee receives, and consider 

whether a hearing in our committee 

would be appropriate. I look forward to 

working with him and with all of the 

Members of the House towards our 

shared goal of making government 

work more efficiently for Americans, 

and also to make it much more transparent and this is what this amendment does, and that’s the reason why 

I’m supporting it. 

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve 

the balance of my time. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 

minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois, a leader in the effort to bring fiscal responsibility back to this institution, Ms. BEAN. 

Ms. BEAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today 

as a proud cosponsor of this legislation 

that encourages adoption in the House 

rules. I’d like to thank Mr. CARDOZA

and Mr. TANNER for their leadership 

since we first introduced it in the 109th 

Congress. 

Mr. Speaker, I came to Washington 

from the private sector, where accountability and performance measurements 

are naturally part of best practices. As 

a Member of Congress I’ve long advocated for increased transparency and 

oversight of government spending and 

performance. As the people’s representatives, we have a responsibility to hold 

Federal Government agencies accountable for the tax dollars that they receive and the services they provide. 

And, like my colleague from Wisconsin, I applaud the President-elect’s 

appointment of a chief performance officer. So we have Executive Branch 

measurement of government results as 

well. 

Although the last Congress improved 

agency and program oversight, this 

resolution takes accountability to the 

next level. House Resolution 40 mandates committee hearings every 4 

months when reports suspect agency 

level waste, fraud or abuse of taxpayer 

dollars. 

Furthermore, whenever an agency or 

program fails its annual audit, additional hearings are required to ensure 

changes are enacted to prevent the 

continuation of business as usual. 

Finally, Congress, working with the 

GAO, will hold hearings to investigate 

those programs, departments or entitlements deemed high risk for abuse, 

such as the 2010 census. 

Particularly in a time of economic 

uncertainty, Americans rightfully expect Congress to create higher standards and practices to eliminate waste, 

fraud and abuse. Unfortunately, for the 

last 12 years the GAO has been unable 

to analyze the financial balance sheet 

of the U.S. government due to numerous agencies failing their audits. As we 

work to stabilize our financial markets 

and stimulate this economy, we must 

also attend to long-term fiscal restraint and responsibility. 

With this resolution and resulting 

hearings, Congress will have the information necessary to make the tough 

choices needed to bring our fiscal house 

in order. These practices will ensure 

greater return on taxpayer outlays. 

Again, I thank Mr. TANNER and Mr. 

CARDOZA for their leadership, and encourage bipartisan support of this legislation. 

b 1515 

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I am 

going to continue to reserve the balance of our time. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 

minute to a member of the Blue Dog 

Coalition, the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. CHILDERS). 

Mr. CHILDERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise 

today in support of House Resolution 

40, authored by my good friend from 

Tennessee, Congressman JOHN TANNER. 

Waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement are four adjectives the American 

people should not associate with government spending. I applaud Mr. TANNER’s efforts over the years to bring accountability back to Federal spending. 

As a longtime businessman from 

north Mississippi, I can certainly tell 

you that waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement are not common practices 

in the business community throughout 

the First Congressional District of Mississippi or in the Eighth Congressional 

District of Tennessee as far as that 

goes. 

The current economic situation now, 

more than ever, demands that this 

Congress spend every taxpayer dollar 

with the utmost responsibility and 

care. In the event hardworking taxpayer dollars are being squandered, we, 

Congress, have an inherent task to put 

an end to poor financial decisions by 

government officials who do not understand the daily grind that the vast majority of the American people face. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

time of the gentleman has expired. 

Mr. CARDOZA. I yield the gentleman 

an additional 30 seconds. 

Mr. CHILDERS. House Resolution 40 

is an effective step towards ensuring 

this country gets back to fiscal responsibility, the same responsibility American families face routinely. 

Again, I applaud Congressman TANNER’s leadership in bringing this good 

piece of legislation to the floor, and I 

look forward to its swift and immediate passage. 

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, in light of 

the bipartisan nature of this resolution 

that we’re considering here on the 

floor, I would like to inquire of my 

friend if he would want me to yield him 

any additional time that he might need 

on his side. 

Mr. CARDOZA. I very much appreciate the gentleman’s request. I think 

we have enough time for the concluding speakers. 

Mr. DREIER. Just in case you need 

any additional time, please don’t hesitate. I would be happy to yield it to 

you. 

With that, I reserve the balance of 

my time. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 

minutes to the gentleman from Texas 

(Mr. CUELLAR). 

Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise 

today to join my fellow Blue Dog 

Democrats in strong support of House 

Resolution 40. I want to thank Mr. 

TANNER, Mr. CARDOZA and Chairman 

TOWNS for the leadership that they 

have provided on this subject matter. 

When you look at taxpayers, taxpayers want a government that is efficient, effective and accountable. This 

is what this legislation does. It does 

provide an efficient, effective and accountable government. 

It is always difficult for Congress to 

agree on exactly where America’s tax 

dollars should go, but we all agree on 

where they should not go. In these difficult economic times, America can 

scarcely afford to throw tax dollars 

into the waste bin of fraud, abuse and 

mismanagement. 

Unfortunately, in the battle against 

waste, Congress does not have enough 

information, and we do not have any 

formal mechanism to investigate allegations of wasteful spending. This legislation sets up a mechanism. This is 

why today’s legislation is a major step 

towards strengthening government accountability. 

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support H.R. 

40. I thank Mr. TANNER, Mr. CARDOZA

and Mr. TOWNS for their leadership. 

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I will continue to reserve the balance of my 

time. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I am 

also prepared to close, so I will allow 

the gentleman to close. 

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 

myself the balance of my time to simply say that I hope very much that this 

spirit of bipartisanship that has been 

exhibited here today in our quest to ensure that we responsibly ferret out 

waste, fraud and abuse and empower 

those inspector generals across the 

spectrum, including right here in this 

institution, will be an example and a 

model for the days, weeks, months, and 

years ahead. 

We have all been inspired by the 

words of President-elect Obama in 


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H272 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE January 14, 2009 

which he has said that he wants to 

work in a bipartisan way. As I’ve said 

here on several occasions in the past 

week, I was pleased to receive a call 

from him, as I know many of my colleagues on this side of the aisle have 

received telephone calls from him, saying that he wants to work with us and 

that he wants our input. 

I will say, up until this moment, Mr. 

Speaker, I have been somewhat troubled over the issues that we have addressed that have completely shut out 

any opportunity for the minority to 

participate. The evidence of that took 

place on the last vote that we just 

went through on the very important 

State children’s health insurance plan. 

At this moment, we have the Rules 

Committee hearing the amendment 

process for the troubled asset rescue 

package. TARP 2, it’s called. Unfortunately, there has been no opportunity 

for minority input on this issue. If you 

look at the votes that we held last 

week, we had two closed rules that 

came right out of the chute, and they 

prevented the minority from having 

any opportunity to participate. Then if 

we go to a week ago yesterday, unfortunately, the opening day rules package, from my perspective, did shred 

this Obama vision that has been put 

forward of trying to work in a bipartisan way. 

At this moment, we are dealing with 

an issue, that being our quest to ferret 

out waste, fraud and abuse and to talk 

about how we can responsibly deal with 

ensuring that we do not waste taxpayer 

dollars. 

I commend my colleagues on the 

other side of the aisle who have joined 

in that effort. This measure is being 

considered under suspension of the 

rules. We know that everyone is going 

to be voting in favor of it. 

While the Framers of our Constitution wanted there to be a clash of 

ideas, at the end of the day, it is imperative that we come to a resolution in a 

bipartisan way, I believe, if we’re going 

to responsibly govern. Let’s hope that 

this resolution designed to deal with 

responsibly ensuring that we do not 

waste taxpayer dollars is, in fact, a 

model for the future. 

With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back 

the balance of my time. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I would 

also like to conclude my remarks by 

simply saying this: 

As we know all too well, despite the 

Blue Dog Coalition’s best efforts and 

the efforts of many other efforts on 

both sides of the aisle in this Chamber, 

cutting spending is never easy, but ladies and gentlemen, enough is enough. 

It is high time that we audit America’s 

books. It is a moral imperative that we 

stop spending taxpayer dollars with 

reckless abandon and start making 

tough decisions, because the choices we 

make today will impact what we will 

be able to do to provide for our children and for our grandchildren tomorrow. 

I ask my colleagues on both sides of 

the aisle to support this commonsense 

legislation. 

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, 

I rise today to support Res. 40, ‘‘Amending the 

Rules of the House of Representatives to require each standing committee to hold periodic 

hearings on the topic of waste, fraud, abuse or 

mismanagement in Government programs.’’ 

This resolution was introduced in the 111th 

Congress by Congressman JOHN TANNER of 

Tennessee. This resolution provides for greater oversight concerning taxpayers’ money. It 

allows for the Congressional standing committees to evaluate Government program spending. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution. Support of this resolution would signal 

a definite and progressive change in the new 

Congress and would be an important building 

block for President-elect Barack Obama’s administration. 

This legislation is important because under 

the Bush administration there has been much 

waste, fraud, abuse and certainly mismanagement, such as Iraqi contract abuses with Halliburton, the mismanagement of Katrina, and 

the overuse of ‘‘cost-plus’’ contracting. 

It is of the utmost importance to keep our 

Government running as efficiently and cost effectively as possible. This resolution would require each standing committee, or subcommittee thereof, to hold at least one hearing 

during each 120-day period following the establishment of the committee on the topic of 

waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement in 

Government programs. Inclusion of a systematic approach to oversight in the rules of the 

House, through this resolution, is a key step 

forward in ensuring that tax dollars are spent 

wisely. 

The 111th Congress will continue to focus 

on restoring accountability and strengthening 

oversight and has the duty to stop Government waste and to become resourceful. During this present time of economic and environmental distress, it is imperative that we evaluate our current practices and improve upon 

them. 

As the former governor of Wisconsin Mr. 

Gaylord Nelson once said, ‘‘The ultimate test 

of man’s conscience may be his willingness to 

sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be 

heard.’’ Let us take the first step in eliminating 

waste and do our part for future generations. 

Our constituents have faith in us as members of Congress to use their tax dollars prudently and for programs which are practical 

and relevant. We have a duty to oversee 

those programs which our committees authorize and make sure that all funds and resources distributed are used in a wise and frugal manner. 

Unfortunately, over the last several years, 

we have seen massive cases of waste, fraud 

and abuse. A report prepared by the Special 

Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction reportedly labels the Iraq reconstruction effort ‘‘a 

$100 billion failure’’—marked by poor planning, waste, and deception. 

Congress can no longer turn a blind eye 

while taxpayer money is abused and wasted. 

We must support H. Res. 40 and continue to 

implement measures which increase oversight 

if we are to be accountable to the people. 

Again, I urge my colleagues to support this 

much needed and thoughtful legislation. By 

our support, let us signal to the American people that we are a new Congress that has a renewed spirit and interest in increasing accountability. Indeed, we are accountable to our 

constituents and to the American people. 

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, for years I have 

introduced government waste legislation that 

would set up a commission to identify waste, 

fraud and abuse in the Federal Government. 

It’s similar to the Grace Commission of the 

1980s. I believe strongly, as does Mr. TANNER, 

the sponsor of the resolution we’re debating 

today, that we have a responsibility to oversee 

the spending of taxpayer money. And clearly, 

the American people feel that we have all abdicated that responsibility, both Republicans 

and Democrats. It is an indisputable fact that 

Washington is excellent at spending money on 

new programs. It almost never ends programs. 

Today we are on the eve of passing a second stimulus bill that may cost $1 trillion. 

These are dollars we don’t have. If it does 

pass, with this one bill, Congress will double 

the already $1 trillion deficit. I can remember 

when we were concerned about the total national debt being that large—and now the national debt is $10.6 trillion. This debt level is 

an economic and national security calamity. 

So what are we doing about this? ’We are 

debating this bill, which changes the House 

rules to require the committees to hold hearings on waste, fraud and abuse. That’s good, 

as far as it goes. The Washington Post recently editorialized, ‘‘It’s easy to find the fat in 

the federal budget. What’s hard is getting rid 

of it.’’ One of my committees is Foreign Affairs. President-elect Obama has committed to 

ramping up foreign aid spending. With today’s 

resolution, I’m looking forward to my committee finding the waste in what we already 

are spending on foreign aid. Then we’ll see if 

Congress does anything about it. 

In selling the trillion dollar stimulus to the 

American people, the President-elect has said, 

‘‘We will go through our Federal budget—page 

by page, line by line—eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those 

we do operate in a sensible cost-effective 

way.’’ Despite the strong Washington bias towards spending, despite years of failed efforts 

to end wasteful Government programs, I take 

our incoming President at his word, and wish 

him well. But it is important to realize, even if 

the President and Congress are successful far 

beyond any level of cutting that has ever been 

seen, total cutting would pale in comparison to 

the deficit and debt we are wildly running-up. 

This bill, which is the right thing to do, is no 

offset to the trillion dollars this Congress appears set to approve. 

Mr. KRATOVIL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in full 

support of H. Res. 40 because I believe that 

not only is it a good idea for Congress to investigate waste, fraud and abuse, but I believe 

it is our Constitutional responsibility to do so. 

The American people have lost faith in this 

institution. They no longer trust Congress to 

spend their money wisely and have grown increasingly cynical about our ability to provide 

needed oversight. 

They expect us to safeguard their money 

the same Way we would our own children’s 

college funds or our retirement accounts—we 

must meet this expectation. 

The current economic environment demands financial responsibility. We can no 

longer allow our nation’s finite resources to be 

squandered while families in our districts are 

struggling to make ends meet. 


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January 14, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H273 

What this resolution does is ensure that 

Congress is fulfilling one of our most basic 

functions. It calls for at least three hearings a 

year, one every 120 days, on the topic of 

waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement. 

This is an opportunity to show our constituents that we are serious about changing 

Washington and putting an end to the reckless 

and dangerous spending that in part helped 

create the unfortunate economic environment 

in which we find ourselves. 

Many of us campaigned that we would 

come here to do our best to change Washington; taking steps to eliminate waste, fraud 

and abuse is a good start. 

This is a good resolution that protects taxpayer dollars. I urge my colleagues to support 

H. Res. 40. 

Mr. DRIEHAUS. Mr. Speaker, the American 

people sent the 111th Congress to Washington based on the promise that we would 

make government work again for every single 

person in this country. We cannot work to fulfill that promise if the government programs 

that we control are riddled with abuse and 

mismanagement. The reports of waste, fraud 

and abuse that have permeated the Federal 

Government are staggering. If we are going to 

change the way things are done in Washington, our first step must be to clean our own 

house. We need to put in place real oversight 

so that we can root out the problems where 

they exist. We need increased transparency 

so that government is held accountable by the 

people it serves. We need to change the business-as-usual attitude that has led to a culture 

of corruption and complacency in Washington. 

House Resolution 40 is an important part of 

our commitment to do right by the people who 

sent us here, and I applaud my friends from 

Tennessee and California for their leadership 

on this issue. 

Mr. CARDOZA. I yield back the balance of my time. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

question is on the motion offered by 

the gentleman from California (Mr. 

CARDOZA) that the House suspend the 

rules and agree to the resolution, H. 

Res. 40, as amended. 

The question was taken. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the 

opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being 

in the affirmative, the ayes have it. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, on that 

I demand the yeas and nays. 

The yeas and nays were ordered. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 

Chair’s prior announcement, further 

proceedings on this motion will be 

postponed. 

f 

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION 

OF H.R. 384, TARP REFORM AND 

ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2009 

Mr. MCGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 

call up House Resolution 53 and ask for 

its immediate consideration. 

The Clerk read the resolution, as follows: 

H. RES. 53 

Resolved, That at any time after the adoption of this resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule XVIII, declare the 

House resolved into the Committee of the 

Whole House on the state of the Union for 

consideration of the bill (H.R. 384) to reform 

the Troubled Assets Relief Program of the 

Secretary of the Treasury and ensure accountability under such Program. The first 

reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. 

All points of order against consideration of 

the bill are waived except those arising 

under clause 9 of rule XXI. General debate 

shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed 2 hours equally divided and controlled 

by the chair and ranking minority member 

of the Committee on Financial Services. 

After general debate, the Committee of the 

Whole shall rise without motion. No further 

consideration of the bill shall be in order except pursuant to a subsequent order of the 

House. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized for 1 hour. 

Mr. MCGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, for 

the purpose of debate only, I yield the 

customary 30 minutes to my friend, the 

gentleman from California (Mr. 

DREIER). All time yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate 

only. 

I yield myself such time as I may 

consume. I also ask unanimous consent 

that all Members be given 5 legislative 

days in which to revise and extend 

their remarks on House Resolution 53. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there 

objection to the request of the gentleman from Massachusetts? 

There was no objection. 

Mr. MCGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, House 

Resolution 53 provides for the initial 

consideration of H.R. 384, the TARP 

Reform and Accountability Act of 2009. 

The rule provides for 2 hours of general debate to be controlled by the 

Chair and ranking minority member of 

the Committee on Financial Services. 

After the general debate, there will be 

no further consideration of the bill except pursuant to a subsequent rule. 

Let me be clear: this rule provides for 

general debate only. The Rules Committee is meeting right now to consider amendments. Tomorrow, I expect 

the House will vote on several amendments, Democratic and Republican, to 

the bill. 

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support 

of H.R. 384, the TARP Reform and Accountability Act. I commend Chairman 

BARNEY FRANK and the Financial Services Committee for their steadfast 

commitment to reviving our Nation’s 

economy. 

Last September, the Bush administration sounded the alarm that our financial system was dangerously close 

to collapse. Treasury Secretary 

Paulson came to Congress with an astronomical funding request that he 

said would free up the credit markets 

and would prevent a bad situation from 

getting worse. The Bush administration asked for a $700 billion blank 

check with no strings attached. 

Over the following weeks, Speaker 

PELOSI and Chairman FRANK and the 

House Democratic leadership, along 

with Senate leaders and then-Senator 

Obama, worked with the Bush administration on a compromise that became 

the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or 

TARP. The TARP provided $700 billion 

in two stages—$350 billion up front and 

another $350 billion when requested by 

the administration. 

Now, I opposed the administration’s 

original request for a blank check, but 

I voted for the compromise because I 

took Secretary Paulson at his word 

that this money would be spent where 

it was needed. Specifically, funding 

would go to homeowners and to banks 

that were feeling the pressures of a 

tightening credit market. Unfortunately, the Bush administration gave 

most of this money to the big banks 

that continue to sit on too much of the 

money instead of lending it out to 

other institutions and individuals. 

The stunning fact is that, of the $250 

billion provided in direct assistance to 

banks, only $62.5 billion has been spent. 

That means that the banks are still 

sitting on $187.5 billion. In my opinion, 

that is simply not good enough. 

This economic crisis is real. This 

housing crisis is real, and it’s not getting better. One in ten American homeowners with a mortgage was either behind in payments or was in foreclosure 

at the end of September. Predictions in 

December were that more than 8 million foreclosures, 16 percent of all U.S. 

mortgages, would occur over the next 4 

years if nothing is done. That is quite 

a record for the outgoing administration. 

Now, Chairman FRANK will be the 

first to say that we don’t know how 

bad the economy would be if the first 

$350 billion of TARP would not have 

been spent by the Bush administration, 

but we do know that it could have been 

spent more wisely. 

The American public simply does not 

trust the current administration to do 

the right thing, and rightfully so, I 

should add. Through the bill we will 

consider later today and tomorrow, 

this new Congress will attempt to right 

the many wrongs surrounding the 

TARP. 

We not only need better oversight on 

the second set of TARP funds; we also 

need to provide a real blueprint for how 

these funds are to be spent. The Bush 

administration clearly failed on this 

point, but H.R. 384 is a step in the right 

direction. 

The bill before us today not only 

modifies the TARP and the TARP oversight, but it requires that between $40 

billion and $100 billion be used for foreclosure mitigation. By March 15, 2009, 

the Treasury Secretary must establish 

a TARP Financial Stability Oversight 

Board approved plan to be implemented no later than April 1, 2009. 

Our priority is keeping American 

families in their homes. While I hope 

the Senate will pass this bill and that 

President-elect Obama will sign it 

after he takes office, it is important 

that we, in the House at least, signal 

our intent on how this funding should 

be spent. 

b 1530 

President-elect Obama has said that 

he will actually listen to and consult 


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