DAVIS, BLUE DOGS PROMOTE ACCOUNTABILITY IN GOVERNMENTJune 15, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis and colleagues in the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition are pushing two bills requiring Congress to exercise its constitutional responsibility of oversight in the executive branch.

"There has been a complete lack of oversight by Congress on how federal agencies spend taxpayer money appropriated by Congress," said Davis. "Our children and grandchildren will suffer unless we change the current policy of unbridled spending and get back to our constitutional system of checks and balances. We need to know where the money is being spent."

At a time of record high deficits and a federal debt of $8.3 trillion, the Government Accountability Office has reported 19 of 24 federal agencies are not in compliance with all federal accounting audit standards. Federal agency inspectors general complete regular reports identifying cases of waste and abuse with their respective agencies. Amazingly, their findings are often ignored by their agencies.

The Blue Dog endorsed bills call for Congressional hearings within 60 days of Inspectors General reports identifying waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement of more than $1 million, hearings when the G.A.O. designates an agency as "high risk," and when an agency's auditors issue disclaimers or corrections indicating inaccurate accounting information. H.R. 5315 requires each federal agency to produce a clean audit within two years and requires the Senate to hold re-confirmation hearings on any cabinet level official whose agency cannot fully account for its spending within two years.