What we have needed is another Truman Committee.
While serving in the Senate, Harry Truman chaired an oversight committee from 1941 through the course of WW II to investigate waste, war profiteering, etc....while the war was raging on.:
Quote:
The Truman Committee is both the most famous and the most successful (oversight committee); having held hundreds of hearings and conducted exhaustive investigative missions that laid bare the machinations of America's military industrial complex and saved taxpayers billions of dollars. The savings generated are staggering compared to the cost of setting up and running the committee: the Truman Committee was launched with just $15,000, but may have saved in excess of $15 billion.
http://www.taxpayer.net/TCS/wastebas...9-17truman.htm
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What we had instead was a Republican congress unwilling to ask questions or hold the Administration accountable for expenditures in Iraq.
Every attempt by the Dem minority in both houses of Congress to hold serious overisght hearing and conduct in-depth investigations were rebuffed.
One example?
Republicans Block Legislation to Restore Congressional Oversight Over War Contracts (
link)
The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (
SIGIR) has been submitting quarterly reports and special audits for 3+ years. Many of these reports and audit raised serious concerns, yet Congress held few meaningful hearings.
In fact, one of the last acts of the Repub majority in the House was to add an amendment to the DoD appropriations bill to cease funding for the SIGIR. Fortunately, the Senate killed the amendment.
With Waxman now chairing the House Govt Ops Committee
....."the times, they are a changin"