Q: What is wrong with the credit card program at the Department of Defense?
A: After uncovering the outrageous fees the Pentagon paid for hammers and coffee pots in the mid-1980s, perhaps it shouldn’t come as a complete shock that the department has failed yet another financial management test. Once again, the Pentagon’s purse is being used as a cash cow for abusive spending. A two-year congressional investigation has unearthed fraudulent personal spending by military personnel. At issue is the Pentagon’s enormous credit card program. Last year, 1.4 million defense employees with government travel cards charged $2.1 billion. Plus, an additional 230,000 Pentagon workers charged $6.1 billion in goods and services. Some might think a few hundred thousand dollars of wrongful spending from such a huge pot of money is no big deal. But when some of it is on the taxpayer’s tab, it’s a big deal to me. The auditing arm of Congress has uncovered a disturbing pattern of abuse and misuse, reckless financial mismanagement and a profound absence of accountability. In its investigation of the Army’s credit card program, the General Accounting Office found more than 500 violations, including at least 200 men charging $38,000 at adult entertainment bars located near military bases. And $1.1 million in defaulted travel card charges is being recouped from salary offsets of 713 commissioned officers. Other goods and services purchased for personal use with the Pentagon’s plastic includes: computers, cruises, cars, cigars, wine, gambling, pictures of Elvis Presley, kitchen appliances, and even closing costs on a home. In July, I appeared before a House oversight subcommittee for the third time in the last year to testify about the Pentagon’s credit card program . Prior to the sunshine factor, accountability for government-issued credit cards was AWOL. The Defense Department and other federal agencies need to do a better job checking credit histories before issuing government-backed credit cards willy nilly. Otherwise, taxpayers and financial institutions that run the government’s credit card programs will continue to shoulder the reckless spending habits of these offenders.
Q: How will your amendment to the defense spending bill target such fraud?
A: The Senate in August overwhelmingly approved the $355 billion defense spending bill for fiscal year 2003. It includes the bipartisan measure I sponsored with Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia aimed at rooting out the fraudulent use of government-issued credit cards. While I applaud the Secretary of Defense for his efforts to crack down on the abuse, it also is important for Congress to lay down the law and protect American taxpayers. While I don’t doubt the Secretary’s intentions, I know how hard it is to change the culture and tighten financial controls at the Pentagon. It doesn’t happen overnight. That’s why I pushed for changes to the law, including new requirements that would limit the number of government charge card accounts that may be issued next year to 1,500,000; evaluate the creditworthiness of an individual before issuing a government charge card; prohibit issuance of a government credit card to anyone found not credit worthy; establish guidelines and procedures for disciplinary actions; and provide a report to the congressional defense committees on the implementation of these requirements by June 30, 2003. Enough is enough. These changes are a good first step to nip fraudulent credit card spending in the bud. Big spenders beware. When Uncle Sam hands out a credit card, it’s not a license to freeload.