Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009

DUNCAN HUNTER NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009 -- (House of Representatives - May 22, 2008)

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Mr. WELCH of Vermont. I want to thank Chairman Skelton for his leadership, Chairman Waxman, Mr. Hunter and Mr. Davis.

I have been listening to Mr. Davis, and he makes a good point; you have to, when you're spending $1 trillion on a war--and we're pushing that--have a good acquisition team. But that really begs the question, we have to have oversight. And there has been documented an astonishing amount of waste, fraud and absolute rip-off in this expenditure of close to $1 trillion. And that does require some simple reporting requirements.

Mr. Murphy's amendment, where private companies that go into contracts from $700,000, and then when the war starts over the next 4 years to $1 billion, that 10 percent cut for the owner of that company, or the owners, the public has a right to know. Sunlight is going to put some limits on how much profit is reasonable when our soldiers are working so hard for so little.

Secondly, when we have no-bid contracts--and these have proliferated so that they are about over $1 trillion--and the companies that have those contracts become aware of fraud, why is it not plain common sense that that company would have the obligation immediately to report to the American government their knowledge of fraud so that we can save taxpayer dollars, particularly when these involve national security contracts, oftentimes with things that are going to protect our troops? We owe them no less and we owe our taxpayers no less. So I thank the gentlemen for the work that they've done to restore fiscal responsibility.

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