War Profiteering Watch
Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-CA) Committee on Government Reform - Minority Office has released new findings about how Halliburton is using your taxpayer dollars.
According to new audits, the amount that Halliburton has overcharged the U.S. government for five out of 10 task orders under their Iraq oil contract now stands at over $212 million. In one case, the over-charge was 47% higher than the total value of the task order itself.
This is especially a big issue in the South. As we've shown elsewhere, the South draws over 40% of military contracts, and hawkish Southern politicians grease the way for unaccountable Pentagon projects in their home states. Southern states also suffer most when money is diverted from social programs to feed bloated military spending.
Unfortunately, last week the Senate Appropriations Committee voted down an amendment from Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-SD) to investigate charges of profiteering and fraud by military contractors. Dorgan's proposal was loosely modeled on the World War II "Truman Committee," which cost only $15,000 to set up but saved taxpayers over $15 billion by reining in military overcharges.
Why doesn't Congress want to save taxpayers that kind of money today?
According to new audits, the amount that Halliburton has overcharged the U.S. government for five out of 10 task orders under their Iraq oil contract now stands at over $212 million. In one case, the over-charge was 47% higher than the total value of the task order itself.
This is especially a big issue in the South. As we've shown elsewhere, the South draws over 40% of military contracts, and hawkish Southern politicians grease the way for unaccountable Pentagon projects in their home states. Southern states also suffer most when money is diverted from social programs to feed bloated military spending.
Unfortunately, last week the Senate Appropriations Committee voted down an amendment from Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-SD) to investigate charges of profiteering and fraud by military contractors. Dorgan's proposal was loosely modeled on the World War II "Truman Committee," which cost only $15,000 to set up but saved taxpayers over $15 billion by reining in military overcharges.
Why doesn't Congress want to save taxpayers that kind of money today?
1 Comments:
Call it coincidence, but Halliburton announced a new "we're so proud of what we do" advertising campaign on the same day a lawsuit was filed by the daughter of an employee killed in 2004.
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