WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today received a letter from U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson. This comes as a response to an oversight letter Grassley sent to Department of Defense Principal Deputy Inspector General Glenn A. Fine on June 6, seeking answers on why the department was wasting taxpayer dollars on individual toilet seat covers that cost $10,000 each.
“For more than three decades, I’ve worked to root out waste, fraud and abuse at the Pentagon. There have been six presidents and twelve Secretaries of Defense, yet the problem of wasteful spending at the Defense Department continues.
“I appreciate Secretary Wilson’s response to a number of the issues I raised in my original letter regarding the Air Force’s excessive $10,000 spending on toilet seat covers, but it still leaves important questions unanswered, such as when did the Air Force stop its purchasing of $10,000 toilet seat covers and how many did they purchase at that price? The taxpayers deserve to know how the federal government is spending their hard-earned dollars and I will continue pressing until these questions, and many others, are finally answered.”
Grassley has been conducting diligent oversight of the Defense Department since the Reagan administration. From his questions about the Pentagon’s $640 toilet seats in the 1980s to the $10,000 toilet seat lids today, Grassley has remained dogged about rooting out waste, fraud and abuse and holding bureaucrats accountable.
Grassley recently published an op-ed on his oversight work at the Defense Department. He also delivered a floor speech on the issue.
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