TOPICS
TOPICS
House budgeteers seek fraud-fighting advice
Members of the House Ways and Means Committee Thursday grilled General Accounting Office chief David Walker during a hearing on government waste, fraud and abuse, with a key issue being the difficulty of decoding Medicare and tax regulations.
The hearing was a result of the Budget Committee's mandate that all House committees should hold hearings on how best to reduce the federal deficit by stopping fraud and waste within government agencies.
Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., said while the options for eliminating fraud sounded modest, they could produce as much as $33 billion in savings.
However, Ways and Means ranking member Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. made clear his stance on the issue by saying that when he first saw the committee's press release detailing their plan to get rid of the deficit, "I thought it was put out by Democrats!"
In defense of the plan, Walker mentioned several cases in which he believed it would be possible to reduce fraud, including eliminating from the Medicare rolls fugitives and those who were citizens of the United States, but were not currently residing in the country.
During the question and answer period, committee members detailed their own problems understanding Medicare and tax regulations, despite the fact that several of them are certified accountants.
For example, Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash., described how several months after she contested the IRS' claim that she made a mistake when filling out her taxes, they still have not gotten back to her.
Dunn said she could not begin to imagine what the typical taxpayer had to go through.
COMMENTS
- We can reduce graft and corruption by vigorously retaining the Civil Service protections that are now in place. Empowering public employees to do their jobs, without the political threats of being outsourced, bought-out, riffed or otherwise right-sized or performance-reviewed, might work in this instance. Wouldn't it be better business to train these 'old expendable' employees rather than 'dump' them? By the way, public servants are already reporting 'real occurances' of graft and corruption, everyday, to the Office of Special Counsel. Unfortunately, they have been stymied by the current case backlog in that office. In other words, the Office has been underfunded so the accusation never come to light (thus get swept under the rug). The taxpayer will never get relief they deserve, and the politicians get to do as they please within federal service. GovExec.com reader Posted July 24, 2003 11:38 AM
- If you "know" you can eliminate $33 billion then you know where it is and what it is! Eliminate it now there is no need for a study or your group! GovExec.com reader Posted July 21, 2003 7:59 AM
- Congress should certainly take some blame in perpetuating waste and a lack of foresight. Take for example the US Mint's gold dollar coin manufactured in 2000. Congress learned nothing from the Susan B Anthony dollar coin debacle nearly 2 decades ago. The Mint told Congress then that a dollar coin would not work UNLESS the $1 note was eliminated. This changeover was successfully implemented in Canada when they converted to a dollar coin. What happened in 2000, nothing. Congress did not have the political courage then to mandate the elimination of the $1 bill and no one is using the Mint's gold dollar coin. So we wasted millions in taxpayer dollars manufacturing a coin that no uses and missed an opportunity to save billions in reducing the amount of currency the Bureau of Engraving and Printing produces. As Congress begins the flag waving mantra of "waste, fraud and abuse," they need to take a hard look in the mirror.... GovExec.com reader Posted July 21, 2003 9:07 AM
