Opponents Still Wrong On Norm Coleman's Record On Oversight

Contrary to his opponents' baseless attacks, the facts are clear: Norm Coleman has an aggressive record of oversight.

Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR)

Norm Coleman has been a strong supporter of a non-partisan entity created by Congress to conduct oversight in Iraq, working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to create the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, to save and extend the office when it was slated to be terminated, and to expand the capabilities of the office. (11/13/06 legislation introduced by Collins, Feingold, Coleman; 11/14/06 Senate passed legislation to extend SIGIR; 9/28/07 Senate passes Coleman/Collins Amdt to DOD Authorization to expand and extend SIGIR)

SIGIR was created in October 2004 and reports to both the U.S. Departments of State and Defense, in addition to providing quarterly reports to Congress.  SIGIR alone has conducted 216 audits and has been responsible for $58 million in savings and $40 million in funds that have been redirected to be used more efficiently.  In addition, SIGIR’s investigative work has led to 14 indictments and arrests. 

Over 50 oversight hearings have been held in Congress; more than 110 Government Accountability Office investigations  on Iraq-related activities including over 50 on Iraq contracting; and at least 12 different entities are overseeing US government operations and expenditures  related to Iraq.
 

Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction  
STAFF SIZE: over 100 staff in both Baghdad and in the US (http://www.sigir.mil/about/Default.aspx)
BUDGET: Average annual budget of more than $27 million (http://pogoarchives.org/m/go/ig/sigir-memo-20071116.pdf

Senate Armed Services Committee
STAFF SIZE: approximately 60 people (Republican and Democrat staff combined)
BUDGET: salaries alone topped approximately $5.75 million (http://www.legistorm.com) 

Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
STAFF SIZE: 14 people (Republican and Democrat staff combined)
TOTAL BUDGET: under $1.2 million; Republican budget is below $600,000 (http://www.legistorm.com)

Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said the following about the Senate Armed Services Committee, with over double the budget and staff of PSI, during Senate floor debate last fall on oversight of Iraq contracting:

“Mr. President, I thank the Senator for his question.  Our committee, as the Senator knows perhaps better than any other Member of this body, has a huge responsibility month after month, year after year, on the authorization bill.  Most of our focus is on that bill in terms of staff assignments. 
We also from time to time do have oversight hearings.  We have had a couple on Iraq, but in terms of what is needed with the immense fraud and abuse and waste that has gone on in Iraq, we could assign our committee nothing else and still not catch up to what needs to be done relative to the waste and the fraud and the abuse that has taken place in Iraq contracting.  We have perhaps three or four staff members assigned to investigation.  They are in the middle of an investigation now.  They could not possibly—with the very small number of staffers assigned to that responsibility—take on the breadth of work which needs to be done relative to Iraq.”  (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?r110:./temp/~r110V7WYMz)

PSI Uncovers Over $80 Billion in Government Waste, Fraud and Abuse

Through the leadership of Senators Coleman and Levin, PSI has exposed over $70 billion in government waste, fraud and abuse here in the US, including:
• More than 27,000 Department of Defense contractors who owe approximately $3 billion in unpaid taxes;
• More than 33,000 federal contractors for civilian agencies that owe $3.3 billion in unpaid taxes;
• Approximately 3,800 contractors for the General Services Administration who owe $1.4 billion in unpaid taxes;
• $146 million in waste and abuse through premium class travel government-wide;
• $4 billion in tax cheating Medicare and Medicaid providers, as well as $100 million in Medicare waste, fraud and abuse;
• Over $3 billion in abusive tax shelters;
• $58 billion in payroll tax abuses