Obama's Congressional Address

 by Deb Cupples |  I started supporting Barack Obama after he won the Democratic primary and then only tepidly.  My support has grown slowly over the past few months for one purely pragmatic reason: if he fails, then our nation will fail. 

At this point, I am suspending judgment on our president, because it will take considerable before we'll actually see how his words transform into action. 

All that said, I watched part of President Obama's congressional address, and I am favorably impressed by some of the things he said (full text at White House or LA Times).  Within a minute of my turning on the TV, President Obama seized my attention by saying this:

"We’ll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq, and reform our defense budget so that we’re not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don’t use.  We will root out the waste, fraud, and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn’t make our seniors any healthier, and we will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas. " (White House)

Amen!  We must, absolutely must, end tax breaks for corporations that ship American jobs overseas.  Years ago, President Bush and the Republican-led Congress insisted on giving out huge corporate tax cuts without tying the cuts to American job creation. One result: thousands and thousands of jobs got shipped overseas, while a relative few corporate executives pocketed the money that the companies had saved from the tax cuts and the job outsourcing.

Getting rid of no-bid contracts is great start, too, but there's much more to do with respect to private  contractors -- not just contractors that work in Iraq, but all types of private contractors.

Using a private contractor for a long period of time -- even one that makes only a reasonable profit and does not commit fraud or waste -- tends to cost us taxpayers more money than government workers would cost if only because contractor profits are factored into our costs.  Waste, fraud and abuse only increases the taxpayers' costs.

There are practical ways to reduce those costs.

First, President Obama must ensure that executive-branch agencies (which he ultimately controls) start negotiating and drafting contracts in ways that protect the taxpayers instead of the private contractors.  That includes refusing to award cost-plus contracts, which are notorious for driving up the costs of goods and services (i.e., wasting money).

Second, President Obama must ensure that all executive-branch agencies that deal with private contractors are well enough staffed and are directed to adequately monitor contractors' performance.  If he fails to do that, then contractors will continue to have abundant opportunities to get away with waste, fraud and abuse.

Third, President Obama must crack down on errant contractors by directing executive agency heads to stop doing business with contractors that have repeatedly shown evidence of having committed over-billing, waste or fraud.  Now, contractors can be barred from getting federal contracts if they plead or are found guilty of crimes.  Consequently, many contractors simply strike plea deals with the Justice Department -- without admitting or denying guilty -- and they continue to get big government contracts.

Fourth, President Obama must demand that his Justice Department pursue False Claims Act cases (i.e., contractor-fraud cases) that whistle blowers bring to the Justice Department and that are supported by adequate evidence.  If there continues to be a failure to adequately enforce the False Claims Act (as there was during President' Bush's tenure), then private contractors will continue to cost us taxpayers far more than they should for goods and services.

We must root out waste, fraud and abuse relating to all types of private contractors -- not just those dealing with the Iraq war.

For the three years before the Iraq war, according to the Justice Department, health care contractors paid "the lion's share" of contractor-fraud settlements to the Justice Department.

We at Buck Naked Politics have done more than 150 posts on government contractor waste,  fraud, and abuse.  You can check them out on our archive pages (here and here and here and here) or you can check out some of the examples linked below.

Memeorandum has commentary.

Related Buck Naked Politics Posts:

* High Cost of Private Contracting

* Business as Usual: Doctors Charged with $10 Million Medicare Fraud

* Insurance Companies Get Away with Over-billing Medicare

* AT&T to Pay $8.2 Million to Settle False Claims Act Case

* Investigators Look into Bribery by Senior Military Officers but Should Look Higher

* KBR to Pay $579 Million to Settle Bribery Charges

*  Inspector General Blocked Investigations into Waste & Fraud?

* Have U.S. Officials Protected Blackwater?

* Time to Get Really Serious about Contractor Fraud

* Billions over Baghdad: Poor Accounting Allowed Waste & Fraud

* Yet Another Contractor Bilks Taxpayers

* How the Energy Dept. Incinerated Tax Dollars

* New Orleans Still Suffering after 2 Years and Billions of Tax Dollars

* How the Defense Dept. Flushes Dollars Down Latrine   

* U.S. Embassies: Still More Examples of Contractor Problems

* Contractors Offering Bribes to Army Personnel?

* Taxpayers Losing Money to Engorged Contractors

* Audit Red-Flags Contractor in Iraq

* Defense Dept. Rewarding Bad Contractor Performance?

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Comments

[sue]

Deb I was not an Obama supporter at first either, but you are so right, we MUST stand behind OUR President, we must do our part! I don't have to tell you about the hate out there in blogland, just yesterday I read the most horrible words about Obama. I do take it seriously especially if these pathetic people want to see this good man dead. It makes my skin crawl, such hatred! Its only been a month, can't the man have some time to fix this HUGE mess!! Love your blog Deb! Sue

[flowerplough]

"We must root out waste, fraud and abuse relating to all types of private contractors -- not just those dealing with the Iraq war."

Human Events magazine, May, 2002:
"Mrs. (Senator Tom) Daschle’s lobbying activities as Senior Public Policy Director of the law firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman and Caldwell have received only a small amount of press scrutiny, save for an account in the liberal Washington Monthly earlier this year. Her lobbying activities surfaced again last week because of a controversial proposal before the Senate to lease military aircraft from Boeing—a client of Mrs. Daschle since 1998, according to federal records.

Dan Crippen, director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, has estimated that the Boeing lease plan would cost the government $37 billion for the use of 100 Boeing 767s over a ten-year period. The deal is controversial because, according to CBO estimates, the outright purchase of the same airplanes would cost only $25 billion, and they could remain useful for 20 to 30 years.

Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.), the leading critic of the leasing deal, has called it "war profiteering," and charges that the deal "has nothing to do with national defense and everything to do with taking care of Boeing."

Sen. Daschle has not made any public statements on the Boeing lease plan, but must, as Senate Majority Leader, decide whether and when to schedule a vote on the matter, since McCain pushed an amendment through the Armed Services Committee that may doom the deal."

[Deb]

HI Flower,

Yes, we must root out all waste, fraud and abuse -- whether committed by democrats or republicans. Period!

What's your point?