Lawmakers uncover fraud in LIHEAP program

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/appropriations/106945-lawmakers-uncover-fraud-in-liheap-program

No I hardly think the LIHEAP program can even be considered the posterchild for fraud and abuse. I believe that title actually belongs to the big banks, or to Congress themselves.


Three House Republicans on Thursday released a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) showing that 9 percent of households in seven states are improperly receiving funds from the Low Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP) totaling $116 million a year.

"It looks like a ton of LIHEAP money was distributed to con artists who applied under the names of convicts and the dead," said Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) in prepared remarks. "Even some people living in million-dollar houses got their utility bills paid for by the taxpayer."

Barton is the ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He and Reps. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) and Greg Walden (R-Ore.) requested that the GAO investigate the matter.



The report found that more than 11,000 dead people and hundreds of prisoners were used as applicants for LIHEAP benefits. More than 1,000 federal employees whose federal salary exceeded the maximum income threshold received benefits. In several cases, people living in million-dollar homes paid their utility bills using money from the program, which is run by the Department of Health and Human Services.

"This is yet another poster child of waste, fraud and abuse,"

Texas Lawmaker Apologizes to BP CEO for '$20 Billion Shakedown'

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/06/17/17greenwire-texas-lawmaker-apologizes-to-bp-ceo-for-20-bil-57728.html

I'm ashamed that people like Joe Barton work for "The People" of the United States.
It's quite obvious where his loyalty lies.
Recent estimates have Deep Horizon gushing forth 2 million gallons of oil a day, with no end in sight.
The costs of this disaster can't even begin to be estimated until the oil has stopped flowing. The 20 billion dollar deposit is a drop in the bucket compared to what the real costs will actually be, if and when, the oil finally does stop flowing.

In an unexpected move, a top House Republican today offered an apology to BP PLC for what he called a White House "shakedown" of the British oil giant.

Texas Rep. Joe Barton, the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, said that President Obama went too far in pressuring BP to fund a $20 billion escrow account to pay for environmental and economic damages resulting from the ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

"I am ashamed of what happened at the White House yesterday," Barton said. "I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would consider a shakedown, in this case a $20 billion shakedown."

Barton said that it was unfair for the White House to press for the fund at the same time that Attorney General Eric Holder is considering criminal charges against the oil company.

"There is no question that BP is liable for the damages, but we have a due process system," he said. "I'm not speaking for anyone else, but I apologize."