House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, Budget Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, and a host of other legislators Thursday released General Accounting Office findings contending that waste in the federal government cost taxpayers $64.9 billion last year.
The GAO found that the Defense Department failed to charge its foreign military sales customers for $5.1 million of delivered goods and services in July 1999 and had in its inventory an estimated $36.9 billion in equipment that is not needed to support current operations or war reserves.
Defense contractors returned $670 million in overpayments to DOD last year; it is unclear how much the department paid out erroneously. Since 1994, contractor-reimbursed overpayments have totaled $5.3 billion.
Other major losses: $13.5 billion by the Department of Health and Human Services; $4.3 billion by the Agriculture Department, including $1.3 billion in erroneous food stamp payments; $3.2 billion by the EPA; and $4 billion by the Social Security Administration-which the group said made improper payments of an estimated $1.6 billion in its Supplemental Security Income program, $1.3 billion in its Old Age and Survivors Insurance program and $1.1 billion in its Disability Insurance program.