Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2006

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006 -- (Senate - July 20, 2005)

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I am happy to join with my colleague, Senator FEINGOLD, in offering an amendment extending the mandate of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, SIGIR. The Special Inspector General serves as a watchdog over the billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars allocated for Iraq reconstruction. It has been effective in its role, uncovering and exposing a wide range of problems with the use of taxpayer funds in Iraq. For example, in reports released on May 4, the SIGIR documented instances of files that could not be located by contract managers, contract funds that no one could account for, and failures by U.S. officials to live up to commitments made to Iraqi authorities regarding the management of funds slated to rebuild Iraq. The SIGIR also found indications of potential criminal activity in the case of the South-Central Iraq audit, where managers could not account for what happened to $96.6 million of $119.9 million that was disbursed in South-Central Iraq.

The SIGIR's tenure is currently 10 months after 80 percent of Iraqi relief and reconstruction funds are obligated, rather than expended. As a result, his term could expire well before all of the work that has been contracted has been performed and payments have been made. Current estimates are that Iraq reconstruction fund obligations could meet the 80 percent threshold very soon. The Feingold-Collins amendment would extend the SIGIR's tenure by changing the termination date to 10 months after 80 percent of the funds are expended.

As chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees government contracting, I meet with and receive briefings regularly from the Inspector General on the office's ongoing work and findings. He conducts needed, on-the-ground oversight of contracts in Iraq. His audit and investigative work provides much needed transparency of these operations and demonstrates to the new Iraqi government the importance of openness and oversight to a democratic society.

Despite its effectiveness, the SIGIR office is set to begin closing down before the majority of reconstruction funds for Iraq have even been expended. We need to extend the mandate of this office to help make sure that American tax dollars are being used effectively and efficiently, and to help our reconstruction effort succeed.

Without the SIGIR's experienced oversight, I fear that we may encounter an increase in fraud, waste, and abuse in the management and administration of Iraq reconstruction contracts.

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