Lingerie, iPods on government credit cards

CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal employees charged millions of dollars to government credit or debit cards, according to a Government Accountability Office study released Wednesday. 

Those charges include Internet dating services, iPods, expensive clothing, a $13,500 dinner and lingerie to be worn during jungle training in Ecuador, the study said.

The audit also found that government agencies could not account for nearly $2 million worth of items, which included computer servers, laptop computers, iPods and digital cameras.

Nearly half of transactions made in the 2006 fiscal year with government credit or debit cards -- referred to as "purchase cards" -- were improper, the study found, and the audit condemned the government-wide "rate of failure" as "unacceptably high."

The improper purchases were either not authorized or did not meet the government's requirements for using purchase cards, the study said.

Sens. Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota, and Carl Levin, D-Michigan, initiated the investigation into the use of government cards.

"Too many government employees have viewed purchases cards as their personal line of credit. It's time to cut up their cards and start over," Coleman said in a news release about the GAO study.