Spending Investigators Speak After Dismissal
by Craig Jennings, 11/3/2006
You may recall that the House Appropriations Committee decided that the sixty-year-old team in charge of conducting oversight of government spending was no longer "good." CQ reports today that some of those fired investigators are now defending themselves from Committee spokesperson John Scofield’s charge that "the work [they’ve] been getting as of late has not been that good."
CQ ($):
The investigators said they identified billions of dollars in potential savings every year, particularly in the Defense budget, and that they heard no complaints until Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., dismissed 60 contractors on Oct. 16.
Joseph Stehr, a retired FBI agent who had been a member of the team off and on since 1985, said he remains stunned by Lewis’ action. "It just amazes me that after 60 some years, that just with the swipe of a pencil the thing could all go away," he said.
