Volume 161, No. 171 covering the 1st Session of the 114th Congress (2015 - 2016) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“WASTEFUL SPENDING” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Senate section on pages S8125-S8126 on Nov. 19, 2015.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
WASTEFUL SPENDING
Mr. COATS. Madam President, the Presiding Officer has been in the chair before when I have done my waste of the week. This is my 27th
``Waste of the Week'' this year, where I come to the floor of the Senate and take a documented waste, fraud, or abuse within the Federal Government, expose that abuse, and inform taxpayers that their hard-
earned money is being wasted by this Federal Government. We are taking those items that have been documented by government accounting agencies, by agencies that have been charged with the responsibility of looking into how we spend the taxpayers' money and alerting us to problems of fraud, waste, and abuse.
So No. 27 waste of the week is up this week, and this week it involves the issue of paid leave. This is an executive policy which applies to departments and agencies across the Federal Government.
Specifically, what I wish to do today is highlight the $31 million in payments to Federal employees who have received paid leave for over a 1-year period of time. For Federal employees, paid administrative leave is typically a paid, excused absence that is separate from vacation time. It includes things such as jury duty or time to allow a person to transition home after an overseas deployment or post. Some agencies also use paid leave when making personnel evaluations. This could include things such as investigations into alleged misconduct, security threats, and similar situations where the employee should be restricted from the worksite while the investigation occurs. Many of these are legitimate. Many of these fall into this category. But being given paid leave for over a year?
First, it raises the question, What is going on here? This is way beyond the norm.
Secondly, shouldn't we have some documentation as to why this takes place? Currently, Federal agencies across the Federal Government have the authority to set their own policies regarding administrative leave, and this leads to a variety of different policies from agency to agency. Why are there discrepancies among agencies in both length of time and the frequency of the granted paid leave?
What is particularly troubling to me is that an audit by the Government Accountability Office, the GAO, found that 263 employees have received paid administrative leave for over a 1-year period of time--more than 1 year. Most of us expect, yes, OK, 2 days off or a week off because I have been selected for jury duty. I have a citizen's and a resident's obligation to do that. Paid leave is justified on that basis. For someone returning from a post overseas, to get resettled, paid leave is justified. There are some other justifications. But over a year? Paid leave for over a year and $31 million paid out to people who haven't worked for over a year? Something needs to be looked into regarding how and why that takes place.
Last month, the Washington Post told a story about how this issue has persisted within the Department of Homeland Security even after the report was issued. The Post article states that ``close to 100 DHS
[Department of Homeland Security] employees still are being paid not to work for more than a year.''
So I think the question we need to ask ourselves in response to this report is why? Why did the Federal Government spend $31 million to pay 263 employees not to work for more than a year? And what is the justification for the 1-year paid leaves? Unfortunately, the Government Accountability Office was unable to disclose the specific details as to why these 263 individuals were on paid leave for over a year. However, there are public reports that give examples of employees who have continued to receive paychecks for over a year.
The Washington Post again reported the case of a former high-level Environmental Protection Agency employee who pretended he was a member of the Central Intelligence Agency for years. This employee collected paid leave under the pretense he was conducting top-secret work for the CIA when, in fact, he was home exercising and pursuing a personal research project. He effectively, according to the Post, stole $900,000 from taxpayers for work he never did. That included his salary and bonus. He was actually paid bonuses. The man was paid a bonus payment for not working--defrauding the Agency he worked for. The good news is that they caught him. The bad news is that it took 2\1/2\ years to figure out something was going on.
An article in the Washington Times details a 4-year case where an employee at EPA was fired for ``sending a `hostile email' and making inappropriate statements that `caused anxiety and disruption in the workplace.' '' That employee was ultimately removed from the EPA a second time but only after he received 1,496 hours of backpay.
And on and on it goes. I could stand here for a long time talking about examples of paid leave to personnel totaling $31 million for payments of paid leave for over a 1-year period of time. It is not just the EPA. I am not picking on one agency. Every agency in government has these policies. GAO estimates that there are some bad track records for these agencies. For instance, the Department of the Treasury has 25 employees on paid leave for over a year and the Department of Veterans Affairs has over 46. And even more disturbing is the fact that the GAO investigation found that Federal agencies don't have sufficient documentation for the paid leave, if they had any documentation at all. How can you put someone on paid leave, how can you make payments for over a year and have no documentation as to why you are making the payments?
Coming to the floor with these waste of the week, fraud-and-abuse situations, it is hard to comprehend how these things go on. The ingenuity of those who are committing fraud and those who oversee agencies that are paying this out is stunning.
I want to make it clear that I am not against paid leave. There are many valid cases. But taxpayers deserve to know why Federal agencies are paying their employees not to work for over a year without sufficient documentation for taking such action. In fact, this ought to go for all paid leave, whether it is for 1 day, 1 month, or 1 year.
Particularly, though, what ought to be ringing an alarm bell is someone who is on the record as receiving paid leave for several months or over a year--and I am only documenting that which was documented for over 1 year. Who knows how much this would total if we looked into every agency's policies and found out that they weren't documented and that they couldn't prove that the paid leave was legitimized.
I need to give credit where credit is due. The Office of Personnel Management has finally recognized that this is a costly issue and has moved to take steps to address this misuse of taxpayer dollars. This summer, the agency announced guidance on what does and doesn't constitute paid administrative leave. I urge OPM to follow up now and ensure that all Federal agencies are implementing these recommendations. But why did it take us so long? Why do we have to have an investigative report? Where is the management? Where is the management in these agencies that oversees this and does not allow this to happen? Why do we have to wait for the Government Accountability Office to come in and audit these agencies and find this unbelievable amount of waste, fraud, and abuse that takes place?
So taxpayers are on the hook for another $31 million of waste. We add that to our ever-growing total of waste, fraud, and abuse, now reaching well over--almost $119 billion. And we have Members down here talking about a program that needs funding because it is an essential program, but we don't have the money to do it. Others come down and say we can't cut a penny more from any of the programs we have--and that is another issue--and yet we continue to waste this kind of money.
Next week it will be item No. 28 as we go forward exposing waste, fraud, and abuse in the Federal Government, taking hard-working taxpayers' dollars at a time when the economy is not doing all that well. This is something which continues to be a noose around the Federal Government's neck and which needs to be addressed.
Madam President, with that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I was seeking the floor, but it is my understanding that Senator McConnell, our leader, is on his way to the floor. I will wait until he speaks. I don't think we have to ask for a quorum call because I think he will be here in just a minute.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
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