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Posted on 04/18/2012 8:55:25 PM PDT by Lazlo in PA
Full Title: DOE’s Vehicle Fleet Roughly The Size of Its 15,000+ Staff, Inspector General Calls The $60M it Spends Annually on Travel a ‘Paltry Sum’
During a hearing before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee Wednesday, Department of Energy Inspector General Greg Friedman told Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) that compared to amount of money spent by DOE contractors, the $60 million the department spends annually on travel is a “paltry sum.”
A “paltry sum”?
Think that’s bad? How about this: according to Christopher Johns, director of the Energy Department’s budget office, the DOE’s vehicle fleet is roughly the size of its staff — which is about 15,000 strong (not counting contractors).
Here’s the transcript of that conversation:
REP. JOE BARTON: My first question is: Do you know how much DOE spent on travel last year?
CHRISTOPHER JOHNS (the director of the department’s office of budget): I could do the math for you—I don’t have the number off the top of my head.
BARTON: Do the other two witnesses know that number?
FRIEDMAN: I don’t know the answer, Mr. Barton, but what’s really interesting is the amount of money spent by the federal employees is a paltry amount compared to the amount spent by the facility management contractors of their department. That’s where the big bucks obviously are.
BARTON: Do you want to put numbers on those? When you say paltry that’s a pretty general term.
FRIEDMAN: I have not looked at the number. My understanding is it’s in the $60 million range.
BARTON: $60 million for the contractors?
FRIEDMAN: No, $60 million for the feds.
BARTON: Oh, that’s paltry.
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
Kudos for Rep. Joe Barton for exposing these filthy pigs for the incompetent losers they really are.
There is not a government agency that does not need a serious haircut.
However, I believe the persons most responsible for the size of the government vehicle fleet are the congresscritters who have domestic auto manufacturing within their district.
GSA buys alot of these vehicles as pork and pushes them out to agencies. The congresscritters often provide a list of vehicles (usually those they can’t sell) to government agencies to “order”.
Much of it is good old fashioned pork.
Meanwhile, departments that aren’t so politically-correct, like the Forest Service, are forced to make do with 15-20 year old vehicles that they ACTUALLY use, that barely run, because of budget problems.
The whole system is upside down.
Dept of Energy —their mission is to LESSEN US dependence on foreign sources of energy.
Since their founding under Jimmy Carter, is the situation any better...?
Just fire them all.
It is time to ABOLISH the DOE.
Where as the POS agencies that do nothing but torment the average American, The IRS for example, never goes without.
My first instinct as President would be to show up the a new department every day for a three month period and personally shake the hand of every employee there and tell every third person the GTFO because you be FIRED. Start back at the first department and do the same thing, only this time fire every other person. That would bring the amount of Federal employees to the level of only 2 - 3 times the needed amount. every government employee claims they could make more money as a private sector employee, I would give them the opportunity to prove it.
If the GSA needs to buy the vehicles as pork, I think they should send me one for my use. I promise not to drive the vehicle except when I’m working for the government, which is about half the year at current tax rates.
The DOE should be fired on the spot.
The DOE is probably the single worst example of, "If you want people to think you really, really care about an issue, create a cabinet-level department for it." With the accompanying 11 or 12 figure budget.
The forest service could be completely contracted out with no impact.
That’s not to say others could not, but we don’t even need a forest service with any govt employees.
We don’t need a DOE
There are some services that the Forest Service could contract out, but I doubt that it’d cover more than twenty-five percent of their force. The problem with contractors (I know because I was one for ten years) is that you start out with 3-star and 4-star contractor companies....then after a couple of years, you have 2-star contractor companies winning compeittion.
The 2-star companies come in and replace the whole team that you had in place. By the 2nd month, you (the government POC over the project) now realize that you’ve got some characters who really don’t know much about their profession. The better guys? They come in....stay 90 days....and leave. The benefits are half as good as they were with the better companies. After three or four years, you notice sub-standard work on a daily basis. The next competition comes along...you ensure the old company doesn’t win the new competition....but another low-ball company wins it in the end....bringing another crew of low-end employees.
I would agree...if you have one project, designed for two years, and needs a limited number of people....then hire a contractor team. But for permanent projects? You will eventually hate the contractor option and find it fails you more than it helps you.
I wish they’d give me a paltry sum . Or a sultry palm.
To start things “turning to the right,” let us propose a 10 % pay cut per year for all elected Federal politicians.
This 10 % pay cut is to be re-instituted each year that Federal spending exceeds the average of the previous two years of actual Federal income.
BTW, maybe in this small way these “public servants” will begin to “feel our pain.”
The ONLY thing DOE does good is manage the SPR...Worked there 11 years. Rest of it can kiss my A**.
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