Congressional Record—Senate S8126
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S8126 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 19, 2015 continued to receive paychecks for if we looked into every agency’s poli- SURFACE TRANSPORTATION over a year. cies and found out that they weren’t EXTENSION ACT OF 2015, PART II The Washington Post again reported documented and that they couldn’t Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam Pesident, I the case of a former high-level Envi- prove that the paid leave was legiti- ask unanimous consent that the Sen- ronmental Protection Agency em- mized. ate proceed to the immediate consider- ployee who pretended he was a member I need to give credit where credit is ation of H.R. 3996, which was received of the Central Intelligence Agency for due. The Office of Personnel Manage- from the House. years. This employee collected paid ment has finally recognized that this is The PRESIDING OFFICER. The leave under the pretense he was con- a costly issue and has moved to take clerk will report the bill by title. ducting top-secret work for the CIA steps to address this misuse of tax- The senior assistant legislative clerk when, in fact, he was home exercising payer dollars. This summer, the agency read as follows: and pursuing a personal research announced guidance on what does and A bill (H.R. 3996) to provide an exten- project. He effectively, according to doesn’t constitute paid administrative sion of Federal-aid highway, highway the Post, stole $900,000 from taxpayers leave. I urge OPM to follow up now and safety, motor carrier safety, transit, for work he never did. That included ensure that all Federal agencies are and other programs funded out of the his salary and bonus. He was actually implementing these recommendations. Highway Trust Fund, and for other paid bonuses. The man was paid a But why did it take us so long? Why do purposes. bonus payment for not working—de- we have to have an investigative re- There being no objection, the Senate frauding the Agency he worked for. port? Where is the management? Where proceeded to consider the bill. The good news is that they caught him. is the management in these agencies Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, 1 The bad news is that it took 2 ⁄2 years that oversees this and does not allow I know of no further debate on the bill. to figure out something was going on. this to happen? Why do we have to wait The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there An article in the Washington Times for the Government Accountability Of- further debate? details a 4-year case where an em- fice to come in and audit these agen- If not, the question is on third read- ployee at EPA was fired for ‘‘sending a cies and find this unbelievable amount ing of the bill. ‘hostile email’ and making inappro- of waste, fraud, and abuse that takes The bill was ordered to a third read- priate statements that ‘caused anxiety place? ing and was read the third time. and disruption in the workplace.’ ’’ So taxpayers are on the hook for an- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill That employee was ultimately re- other $31 million of waste. We add that having been read the third time, the moved from the EPA a second time but to our ever-growing total of waste, question is, Shall the bill pass? only after he received 1,496 hours of fraud, and abuse, now reaching well The bill (H.R. 3996) was passed. backpay. over—almost $119 billion. And we have Mr. MCCONNELL. I ask unanimous And on and on it goes. I could stand Members down here talking about a here for a long time talking about ex- consent that the motion to reconsider program that needs funding because it be made and laid upon the table. amples of paid leave to personnel total- is an essential program, but we don’t ing $31 million for payments of paid The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without have the money to do it. Others come objection, it is so ordered. leave for over a 1-year period of time. down and say we can’t cut a penny It is not just the EPA. I am not picking The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- more from any of the programs we ator from Iowa. on one agency. Every agency in govern- have—and that is another issue—and ment has these policies. GAO estimates yet we continue to waste this kind of f that there are some bad track records money. TERRORIST ATTACKS IN THE for these agencies. For instance, the Next week it will be item No. 28 as UNITED STATES Department of the Treasury has 25 em- we go forward exposing waste, fraud, ployees on paid leave for over a year and abuse in the Federal Government, Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, and the Department of Veterans Af- taking hard-working taxpayers’ dollars because of what happened in Paris last fairs has over 46. And even more dis- at a time when the economy is not week, a lot of speeches are going to be turbing is the fact that the GAO inves- doing all that well. This is something given on the floor of the Senate about tigation found that Federal agencies which continues to be a noose around terrorism. But it is too bad that we don’t have sufficient documentation the Federal Government’s neck and only seem to talk about the dangers of for the paid leave, if they had any doc- which needs to be addressed. terrorism when bad things happen in umentation at all. How can you put Madam President, with that, I yield the United States or happen in Paris or someone on paid leave, how can you the floor. someplace else that brings the issue to make payments for over a year and The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- our attention. I think what we all need have no documentation as to why you ator from Iowa. to remember is that it is a constant are making the payments? Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I danger that may not appear to us Coming to the floor with these waste was seeking the floor, but it is my un- daily, but somewhere out there are people thinking about killing us for of the week, fraud-and-abuse situa- derstanding that Senator MCCONNELL, tions, it is hard to comprehend how our leader, is on his way to the floor. I what we believe. these things go on. The ingenuity of will wait until he speaks. I don’t think So I rise today, again, expressing my those who are committing fraud and we have to ask for a quorum call be- sympathies to the people of Paris and those who oversee agencies that are cause I think he will be here in just a those affected by Friday’s terrible at- paying this out is stunning. minute. tacks by radical Islamic terrorists I want to make it clear that I am not The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- there. On behalf of the people of Iowa, against paid leave. There are many jority leader is recognized. I continue to stand with the people of valid cases. But taxpayers deserve to France. know why Federal agencies are paying f Unfortunately, the attacks last Fri- their employees not to work for over a day should not have been a surprise. TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND year without sufficient documentation Radical Islamic terrorists have been URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RE- for taking such action. In fact, this waging war against the United States LATED AGENCIES APPROPRIA- ought to go for all paid leave, whether and our allies for years. When thinking TIONS ACT, 2016 it is for 1 day, 1 month, or 1 year. about the last three decades of the last Particularly, though, what ought to CLOTURE MOTIONS WITHDRAWN century, you think about the terrorism be ringing an alarm bell is someone Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, at the Munich Olympics or an Amer- who is on the record as receiving paid I ask unanimous consent that the two ican being murdered on a TWA plane. leave for several months or over a pending cloture motions with respect Then we had a Jewish person in a year—and I am only documenting that to H.R. 2577 be withdrawn. wheelchair thrown overboard in the which was documented for over 1 year. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without Mediterranean. There was the attempt Who knows how much this would total objection, it is so ordered. to bring down the Twin Towers in 1993 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Nov 20, 2015 Jkt 059060 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G19NO6.029 S19NOPT1 emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with SENATE November 19, 2015 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S8127 by car bombs. Marines were murdered not find evidence linking the shooter somebody in uniform. Kill anybody.’’ in Lebanon—over 200, I think it was. to a terrorist group, the agency con- Those are the words Comey used in We had the attack on the Khobar Tow- cluded the shooting was an act of ter- paraphrasing the message that comes ers in Saudi Arabia, where our military ror. from ISIS on social media. In March 2006, another radical Is- people were living. We had the East Af- ISIS’s deadly message of terror is lamic terrorist injured six people when rican Embassy attacked, and we had having a profound effect here in our he drove his vehicle into a group of pe- the USS Cole attack. country. Over the last year, the gov- Now, all of those happened before destrians at the University of North ernment has stopped numerous individ- 9/11.