U.S. Senator Norm Coleman (R-Mn) Holds a Hearing On Dod's Defense Travel System

Political Transcript Wire › August 05, 2009

Linked as:

Extract

U.S. Senator Norm Coleman (R-Mn) Holds a Hearing On Dod's Defense Travel System

U.S. SENATE HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS HOLDS A HEARING ON THE DEFENSE TRAVEL SYSTEM

SEPTEMBER 29, 2005

SPEAKERS: U.S. SENATOR NORM COLEMAN (R-MN) CHAIRMAN U.S. SENATOR TED STEVENS (R-AK) U.S. SENATOR TOM COBURN (R-OK) U.S. SENATOR LINCOLN D. CHAFEE (R-RI) U.S. SENATOR ROBERT F. BENNETT (R-UT) U.S. SENATOR PETE W. DOMENICI (R-NM) U.S. SENATOR JOHN W. WARNER (R-VA) U.S. SENATOR SUSAN M. COLLINS (R-ME) EX OFFICIO

U.S. SENATOR CARL LEVIN (D-MI) RANKING MEMBER U.S. SENATOR DANIEL K. AKAKA (D-HI) U.S. SENATOR THOMAS R. CARPER (D-DE) U.S. SENATOR MARK DAYTON (D-MN) U.S. SENATOR FRANK LAUTENBERG (D-NJ) U.S. SENATOR MARK PRYOR (D-AR) U.S. SENATOR JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN (D-CT) EX OFFICIO

WITNESSES: THOMAS SCHATZ, PRESIDENT, CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE

ROBERT LANGSFELD, PARTNER, THE CORPORATION SOLUTIONS GROUP

THOMAS GIMBLE, ACTING INSPECTOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

MCCOY WILLIAMS, DIRECTOR, FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND INSURANCE TEAM, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

SCOTT COMES, DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC AND PROGRAM ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

ZACK GADDY, DIRECTOR, FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

[*] (AUDIO GAPS THROUGHOUT DUE TO HEARING ROOM AUDIO SYSTEM) COLEMAN: This hearing of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is called to order. Our first witness will be Senator Grassley, and what I'm going to do is begin my opening statement, but when my colleague comes, we always defer to the chairman of the Finance Committee, and we'll have him give his statement and then move on to the other panels.

I should also note that we have a vote at 11 -- I will have to leave at 11:15. We need to be in our seats by 11:20 and then a vote on the Roberts nomination at 11:30, so I will adjourn the hearing and after that vote we will reconvene and finish up the testimony, so we will be adjourning at 11:15.

Good morning and thank you for attending today's hearing. Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman once stated governments never learn, only people learn. I disagree. My job as chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is to ensure that our governments learn as well.

Simply put, that is why we are having this hearing, the Defense Travel System: Boon or Boondoggle. It follows from other investigations this subcommittee has held on Defense Department waste, fraud and abuse.

In November 2003, the subcommittee conducted a hearing on the Department of Defense's use of first and business class airline travel. At the hearing, it was determined that DOD had not properly authorized or justified 73 percent of the first and business class travel undertaken in the fiscal years 2001, 2002.

DOD spent $124 million on over 68,000 tickets during these two years. The improper authorization and justification of these tickets resulted in the improper expenditure of over $60 million in two years.

On February 12th the subcommittee held a hearing on DOD contractors who cheat on their taxes. The hearing examined the failure to collect unpaid taxes owed by contractors who are doing business with the Department of Defense and getting paid with taxpayer dollars. The subcommittee determined that 27,000 DOD contractors owed $3 billion in unpaid taxes.

The taxes were not collected because DOD was not validating contractors' taxpayer identification numbers and was not referring contractor payments to the Financial Management Service to identify unpaid tax debt.

This hearing is designed to determine if DTS is the windfall to DOD travel that it was promised to be or simply a waste of taxpayers' money. I have repeatedly asked DOD about DTS because of credible allegations that DTS has had very serious problems.

Specifically, I have heard that DTS is four years behind schedule, is deployed in barely one-half of the 11,000 DOD travel sites, has grown in cost from $273 million to $500 million -- and even for government that's a lot of money -- does not identify the lowest available airline fares, does not identify all available lodging facilities that offer government rates, and has not generated the projected cost savings for travel agent services and voucher processing.

I am particularly concerned with DOD's failure to realize the projected cost savings for travel agent services. This has occurred because DOD has made the use of DTS ...

See the full content of this document