Bill Would Extend Term of Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction
INSPECTOR
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
11/14/06
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 – The Senate Tuesday voted to extend by about a year the life of the agency that acts as a watchdog over the billions of dollars being spent on Iraq’s rebuilding.
The vote, on an amendment to the military construction bill, came only a few hours after
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) joined three other senators to press for legislation that would keep the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction alive into late 2008. Otherwise, the inspector’s term would expire next October.
The Senate was expected to approve the military construction bill later this week. Similar legislation has been introduced in the House.
The work of the inspector general’s office, led by Stuart Bowen, is critical and has effectively rooted out millions of dollars of waste, fraud and abuse and therefore must be continued, the senators said at a press conference.
“The inspector exposed numerous cases of waste, fraud and abuse,” Collins said. “Its work has led directly to conviction, and its simply inconceivable to me that this office would be eliminated before its work is done.”
The office is responsible for the oversight of approximately $32 billion in Iraq reconstruction contracts and grants. The financial impact of the inspector’s audits, investigations and inspections, Bowen estimated, has been approximately $1.87 billion, far exceeding the office’s expenses of $72 million, according to a press release from Collins’ office.
“It is necessary to have an IG who can follow the money, who can cross departmental lines regardless of where the source of the funding originated,” Collins said.
The office has issued 71 audit reports and 65 project assessments, and its work has resulted in the arrest of five people and the conviction of four, with more than $17 million in assets seized.
On Thursday, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which Collins chairs, will meet to vote on the bill to extend the inspector’s term. Originally the inspector’s duties were to end 10 months after 80 percent of funds for Iraq reconstruction had been expended.
But the recently enacted defense authorization bill includes a provision that would end the inspector’s oversight responsibilities next October. The new bill, as well as the amendment the Senate adopted Tuesday, would restore the 10-month target.
The press conference was attended by the principal sponsors: Collins, Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.).
Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) is one of 18 co-sponsors of the bill.
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