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Subscribe to RSSThe Department of Veterans Affairs is being investigated by the Office of the Inspector General for allegedly spending millions on two human resources conferences held in Orlando last year.
In initial findings provided to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the OIG alleged that VA spent between $3 million and $9 million on the two gatherings, at which employees may have received "improper gratuities, including alcohol, gift baskets, concert tickets, embroidered pillow cases, stretch limousines, helicopter rides, and spa treatments."
Among the expenditures were $3,000 for two photographers; $84,000 for VA-branded promotional items, including pens, highlighters and hand sanitizers; and $52,000 for videos featuring a character in the likeness of Gen. George S. Patton. The video also includes interviews with VA staff members who discuss the importance of understanding the needs and experiences of veterans.
"This parody should never have been produced and this misuse of taxpayer funds is completely unacceptable," VA said in a statement issued to NBC News, referring to the use of the Patton character. "This event took place over a year ago and we have already adopted new rules that reflect our continuing commitment to safeguarding taxpayer dollars."
On Wednesday, two members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs released a letter sent Aug. 16 to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki demanding to know exactly how much the department had spent on conferences since 2009.
In a February 2011 hearing, a VA official said the department budgeted $20 million for the expenditures, but testimony given in November indicated the VA spent "a little over $100 million," according to the letter. VA later said in a post-hearing response that an "accurate, reliable figure on the number of conferences (held in the past several years) is not available."
"If (the) $100 million figure is accurate, it raises questions of excessive conference spending in a tight fiscal climate," wrote authors Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., who is the chairman of the committee, and Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif.
Related: GSA head resigns after lavish training conference
Miller and Filner noted that even if VA spent $20 million last year, the two conferences in Orlando would amount to 45 percent of those costs.
In early August, the president signed into law a provision that asks VA to report conference expenditures in excess of $20,000 to Congress.
VA said in its statement that the agency is cooperating with the investigation and that it has stripped implicated employees of their purchasing authority.
“If the results of the IG investigation are upheld," Miller said in a statement, "this represents an egregious misuse of funds meant to provide for the care of America’s veterans."
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So what's with these government "conferences" spending millions on trips to exotic locales and in luxury hotels? This nonsense has been going on for decades and needs to be stopped completely. Haven't these kooks ever heard of a video conference? Or what about meeting in a VA hospital? The money they've wasted could have done so much good for people who have earned it by sacrificing their time, bodies, and in some cases their lives doing their duty. Every single person who ordered and organized these conferences (or should I say free luxury vacations) should lose their jobs immediately! Shame on them all!
Government is an insidious parasite, leeching the resources of others for its own benefit.
I'd rather have them than the purely for profit thugs who would triple our costs and cut back benefits.
This has been going on since 1968, when I first got involved in veterans issues. It does not matter who or what group is in the Executive or Legislative Branch, who has the majority, best record on defense, friend of the military, etc., they all hiss when they talk! If you add up ALL the money allocated, we could take care of ALL the problems, in a cost effective and honorable manner. There is an old adage, "there is always more said than is ever done", but there is more to it, "if you don't do anything, have a big ole time while you are doing it"!
No matter who is in office, the crooks will find the Loop Holes.....
No words from the Secretary of Defense or Congress on this problem, business as usual. I'll bet nothing was gained in the Conference, just a joy ride for the participants.
Too much money is being spent on these bureaucrats and not enough is going to help the people it is supposed to help. These conferences are only the tip of the iceberg on wasteful spending by government agencies. From ordering custom everything just so that it can be emblazoned with agency logos instead of buying generic items to padded expense reports to inflated salaries and excessive staffing, the waste in government is absurd. For every government employee there are two more that are unneeded. You have government employees who literally work about an hour a day while they "supervise" the contractors that they hire to actually do the work they are supposed to be doing.
Somehow the government thinks the taxpayers money is their personal ATM. While they are throwing lavish conventions the taxpayer is working and trying to keep their head above water. Can't remember the last time I had a "lavish" vacation but being a responsible adult, paying my mortgage, gas & electric, and food on the table is my number one priority.
@Rontron
You probably won't hear a peep out of Congress about this because they've been doing the same thing for 60 years or more. I remember about 10 years ago there was a Congressman who went to Paris for a conference about defense buying (supposedly). The problem was he took an Air Force plane and 35 of his friends, family, and neighbors-all at government expense. And the "conference" he was attending? It turned out to be the Paris Airshow, where the government kindly bought VIP seats for all the people he took with him. His little trip cost the government almost 7 million dollars when you include the luxury suites all his guests stayed in, the 5 star restaurants, limos all over Paris sightseeing, etc. This kind of corruption is the norm in Washington. Wasting OUR money and then gripping about a tight budget when we actually want some of our money used for us.
I work for the Feds and crap like this makes me so mad.....not everyone that is a FED is okay with this BS....SMFH....they ALL need to lose their jobs and it starts at the top....the House and the Senate needto set their own examples and say it will not be tolerated and then FIRE anyone who doesn't toe the line including themselves...how many pages and assistants and trips and parties do these bums REALLY need anyway when they are supposedly working FOR US!!!!
Waste at the Federal level constitutes the largest criminal enterprise in world history.
These criminals whom we employ have operated on our dime with impunity for the last several decades, with the most egregious behavior occurring in the past 3 decades. Just track the explosion of deficits and you can see how people in government figured out how to game the system to their benefit.
Politicians are guilty of this misappropriation. Government employees are guilty. People contracting to the government are guilty. And finally, the multi-generational welfare families are guilty.
Until we completely reorganize, we will continue to be ripped off, stolen from, and lied to, by these millions of criminals, as they all have a vested interest in continuing the practice.
Private sector fraud to the consumer has its limits due to competition. Government does not, as we have no alternative, and they have the threat of the gun, through local, state and federal law enforcement.
JON...which planet are you on???? The Gov't DOES cut back benefits and triple or costs and make corporations rich (they are people too...ask Mitt)...for Gods sake man wake the Hell up....
@AreYouBuyingThis?
That's the thing liberals don't seem to understand. The more government grows, the more power corrupt polticans will have to sell to the highest bidder. It's called crony capitalism.
our elected talk of waste in terms of what the public gets in funds for the poor, medicaid and medicare....yet..this kind of thing goes on all the time in washington..but for politicans..it is ok since they are begging for more money from lobbyist that they do the biding of.
Unbelievable! please tell me that there is something we can do to stop this perpetuating corruption?!!
every day this is happening while i have to work at two, three jobs, pay all kinds off tax, unknowingly some con people taking it, and using for there own personal vacation. after seeing this i got really P'd off!
EVERY department of our morbidly obese Federal Government could use less "administrators", the people who always seem to be the first involved in fiscal mismanagement but the last to get removed AFTER screwing up.
We have a top heavy Federal Government where far too many of those in charge feel they are "above" being held accountable for anything !! Any VA suit who was involved in this garbage should be GONE and they should be replaced on a case by case basis. The VA doesn't need more suits, it needs more folks in the trenches to deal with the issues of over a decade of war !!
the queenie
I work for the Feds and crap like this makes me so mad.....not everyone that is a FED is okay with this BS....SMFH....they ALL need to lose their jobs and it starts at the top....
Glad to see you have a conscious. Fellow state worker friend of mine (road crew) felt the same way, left his mandatory 1 hour lunch break 5 mins early 1 day, got wrote up for it. He knew his days were numbered at that point as he couldn't see the sense of just sitting in the truck doing nothing for a whole hour. (he later was paid to 'get smarter', taking couple of courses somewhat related to his job, then jumped ship and went to work for the AG of the state with his newfound knowledge).
Joseph Belsitovia Facebook
Unbelievable! please tell me that there is something we can do to stop this perpetuating corruption?!!
NOPE ! And probably worse than this story, is the waste and abuse happening daily on a small scale (compared to the story) but adds up to MAJOR $$$. SOME of it is being looked at and handled, only because of cuts in budgets. And ONLY because things like pensions (at 25 years) are going to be the LAST thing looked at for cutting. But sooner or later, 25 year pensions will go, as will the unbelievable donation of a MINUMUM of 14% of an employees wages towards their retirement. Show me ANY private business that contributes that !
Shoot, even on a real local level, my town, pop of bout 5,200, it's just amazing the 'costs' of public workers. OVER $26,000 just for medical per employee yearly.
And seriously people, lets talk paid holidays. Take what you think a public worker is worth for 1 day, (lets say, $200) and times that by about 30,000,000 workers. (trust me, your little calculator in your desk doesn't have a big enough read out. And that's for only ONE day.
The Inspector General is a Bush appointee and whose job is to find waste, fraud and abuse. What happens when he is the cause of the fraudulent waste that has been going on since he was appointed to a job he was not qualified for. President Obama and Secretary Shinsecki ought to give this alcoholic felon a boot. Inspector General George J. Opfer has no experience coming to the Veterans Affairs and is paid an exorbitant amount of money and benefits to do absolutely nothing but waste America's limited funds.
How about VAPP, (Veterans' Administration Party Planners, [insert logo here]) put all Vets before a Grand Conference?!
How dare they squander all that money on a party, (with gifts,) disguised as training!
So, Thomasfo, who SHOULD VA administrators answer to?? Would you agree with the findings of the IG if President Obama had appointed him ??
It is UNACCEPTABLE to have VA administrators squandering scarce taxpayer supplied resources on themselves in this economy, especially with the crush of Veterans coming from Reductions in Force Strength after over a decade of war. These suits need to be called on the carpet and their herd thinned.
We need more VA employees at the bottom, not a bunch of elitist suits at the top sucking up precious funds before they "trickle down" to those who've earned them. It amuses me that Republicans believe in trickle down economics while Democrats believe in trickle down Govco, overpopulating the ranks of Government employees with suits when rolled up shirtsleeves or short sleeves are what's needed to meet the needs of the people. Neither is a sustainable belief !!
Dual Service (U.S.Navy, U.S. Army) Combat (2BCT 1AD OIF 08-09) Veteran
Now we know why vets can't get the treatments they need. All the money has been blown on conferences.
Meanwhile, my father-in-law, a Vietnam War Marine Corps veteran, can't afford the oral surgery required for his dentures. The VA apparently can't afford any sort of dental coverage -- but it can send its HR staff on spa holidays.
Very sorry for your father-in-law! Tell him thank you for his service to the country and it's too bad the government isn't showing their appreciation!
Here we go again... after the Las Vegas partying by the Obama Admin.
If you think this is just an Obama-era waste of money, you're quite wrong. They've been wasting funds for decades in similar and equally extravagant ways. Only, oops, now people are noticing!
It must be tough to be so close minded. Do you really, for one second think this began under Obama? If you do I feel sorry for you. You probably really do think that Obama controls everything that happens in a huge Federal bureaucracy.
hey sheeple gurudev, who signed the bill requiring the VA to disclose expenditures over $20,000??????
Oh yeah, Obama, TRUE friend to our Vets
ONE MORE THING
Obama has given more money to the VA for our vets than any POTUS for the last 30 years...
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/04/30/veterans-salute-president-obama-on-funding-for-va/
you clown
guru ? wth ?
I can't stand some of the Potus ideals, but to blame EVERYTHING on him, is just horse pucky.
It's people like you that make others put us all in the same basket.
I just read a story a few days ago about 35,000 unprocessed claims.
I wonder how far $9,000,000 would go towards hiring some people to process them? Shame on the VA for wasting this money when our wounded vets are sitting in limbo.
The backlog for the processing of VA Chapter 33 "Post 9-11" Education funding could be cleared up quickly if this money had gone for staffing -- even temporary staffing without benefits would be appreciated by those vets looking for work.
This should come as no surprise. We got Michele Obama, going on jungle vacations, the little Obama children going to Mexico. Govt. Gone WIld! All on the taxpayers dime, priceless.
Poison, you're right - it should come as no surprise but I'll never understand it and I'll never accept it as 'it's just the way things are'. It's absolutely appalling that they think even $20M is an acceptable budgeted amount for conferences. We have veterans and their families who have sacrificed life, limb and mind for our country's political agenda and this is how the government repays them and the American tax-payer who has no option but to rely on a wing-and-a-prayer that they'll do what they are supposed to do.
All that being said, here is my favorite piece of the article: "If (the) $100 million figure is accurate, it raises questions of excessive conference spending in a tight fiscal climate," wrote authors Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., who is the chairman of the committee, and Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif. What?! Are they only concerned about excessive spending when the fiscal climate is tight? They should operate every single day as if the climate is tight - it's our money they are spending. Unbelievable.
You moron the President and his wife and children has nothing to do with the VA Administration.
Go back to fux up noise and do your homework.
Right, and no President's family before this administration ever took vacations, right? Must be tough to go through life clueless. Why don't you focus on what's really important instead of this stupid partisan carping?
Boo friggin Hoo Hoo -- talk about partisan carping! Hypocrite.
who signed the bill requiring the VA to disclose expenditures over $20,000??????
Oh yeah, Obama, TRUE friend to our Vets
ONE MORE THING
Obama has given more money to the VA for our vets than any POTUS for the last 30 years...
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/04/30/veterans-salute-president-obama-on-funding-for-va/
idiot
Give me back my tax money and I'll go to Orlando myself. If I had PTSD, I could definitely self medicate with some of that money.
clean house, hold people and departments responsible for wasteful gov't spending, all the way from the office of the President all the way down to some grunt collecting a gov't paychk. it's way past due. I'm sick an tired of my tax $$ go'in for some sorry slob to live it up whie I docontinue to live from 1 paycheck to another.
There is a Regional Office in a Southern State that the VA Claims files are so many that it is a threat to the integrity of the building itself. I do believe it is in NC. Why wasn't that money applied to VA claims?
VA attitude seems to be why spend the money helping veterans when we can spend it on having ourselves a good time.
Oh and I forgot this is ALL President Obama's fault. NOT!!!!
no it's Bushes at least that what the airhead in the WH keeps spinning. If he wasn't up for the task (which as a community organizer it is clear he was not) he should not have run. I haven't heard "it wasn't me" so much since I was a kid!
A huge part of our problem as regards taxpayer monies can be traced to thieves within our government. Time to lock and load. Noone is to be let off, find the quilty and hold their feet to the fire.
As a veteran I cannot say that I am surprised about this? In fact it demonstrates the disconnect between funding for veterans that must endure lengthy waits to be seen at the VA versus how millions of dollars can vanish over a conference that veterans did not attend that could have provided input to how broken the system actually is?
Maybe we stop creating a need for military spending, stop creating reasoning to use military equipment and we might just lower the number of returning military which need VA help.
The funds in question here are so low in relationship to the over all military budget, as well as military waste, you have to wonder why this is the issue they choose to take up first. There are bigger fish to fry in military waste, this is a joke.
Don't get me wrong, any waste inside the VA which could go to help the wounded is worth looking for, but this is not what is going to save our nation or our budget.
I worked for a state regulatory agency. When we had conferences we couldn't even supply cookies. It was always BYOE ( bring your own everything).
When we traveled out of town the state perderm was so low ($11/day) it was laughable (this was 10-12 years ago). We just paid for our own food. And we took our own cars because checking out a car, getting a credit card was like signing away your life. It was just so complicated and took so long to get refunds we paid our own way.
Absolutely ridiculous. We cannot even take care of our veterans the way they should be taken care of. Time to end our government as we know it.
And people think! This will happen with Obama care! The only way to stop this is to stop sending money to the government! We know that won't happen so quit bitching. You notice how none of the bureaucrats are going to be prosecuted? Notice how there is no "claw-back" type of law that would be able to confiscate the cash back by taking it from the bureaucrats personal finances??
Iowa, what does this have, in any way, to do with the ACA? You're downright ridiculous!
Government workers will be administrating the plan. You are so naive to think they will not have this going on?? LOL. Keep drinking the kool-aid that government does no wrong!
Soon the budget cutting gurus will get to our VA and decide that budget needs to be cut. The first thing they'll suggest is the easy stuff like cutting veterans benefits. Rather than cut benefits to those suffering from service to our nation, cut the second largest bureaucracy in our Federal Government after the Pentagon! That will be harder than simple benefit cuts, but would cut government costs and perhaps make the VA more efficient! Bet "Efficiency" was not on those conference agendas!
This is not new. It happened under Jimmy Carter and Max Cleland. Every Prtesident appoints somebody who will "fix it". Bull Snot !
The Obama administration at its best!
who signed the bill requiring the VA to disclose expenditures over $20,000??????
Oh yeah, Obama, TRUE friend to our Vets
ONE MORE THING
Obama has given more money to the VA for our vets than any POTUS for the last 30 years...
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/04/30/veterans-salute-president-obama-on-funding-for-va/
you clown
@ Jamie A
Do you really believe that drivel you just said? This sort of thing has been going on since the 1960's. Was it Obama's fault when he was only a little kid then? This extravagant expendures practice is the NORM in Washington and always has been.
Right Dan! Obama loves to use the military for his own kudos. However, read this article and you'll find out how he really feels about us....
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/2009_03_18_Veterans__lawmakers_blast_White_House_for_benefits_proposal/
This is why the federal government should be cut by about 20-25% accross the board. Every department, every nook and cranny. And guess what? Government would still function. It's the "use it or lose it mentality of government spending that needs to stop. Stop the insanity now!
There are so many problems with the VA, but I would like to talk about those of us (those who were in the military) who should stop claiming benefits for disabilities that are bogus, we could give that money to more needing vets. I know of so many people who got out and claimed things that were hereditary or they got hurt while riding their bike while on their free time. When you get out you are told you have to claim some form of disability even if you do not have one. I know of forty people who retired in the last 10 years and 31 of them have claimed a disability. Only one of those people actually got hurt while doing their job in the military. It is as if we in the military think that the people of this country owe us. When only a few soldiers actually do any of the fighting. It is a total shame that we are so blind to this because we want to be patriotic to our fellow soldiers, but someone needs to put a stop to it. Could you imagine what the VA hospitals would like if we could get all that disability money from all the bogus claims. All that money gets paid out for life on these soldiers. And this is only going to get worse with a huge deficit. Where will that money come from. But first we need to make sure the money already in the VA gets to the soldiers and not be spent on these Jacka$$es for meetings.
.........and this is news! Government employees feel entitled to "perks", no matter the cost. Supervisors, managers allowing excessive spending should be terminated immediately. (Fat chance of that)
When congress looks for ways to reduce, programs benefiting the elderly, welfare and WIC are mentioned first followed by reducing funding for parks. Looking within the government is never considered.
Come November. show your displeasure by staying away from the polls.
Totally outrageous! these crooks are no different than many others (e.g. GSA) who has spent our tax dollars showering themselves with gold dust. Meanwhile, veterans who are fighting to protect our freedoms aren't receiving the care they need because this same agency can't get it's collective @!$%# together!
So who will be held accountable, fired, jailed, fined, etc. over this? Probably nobody- which further cements the public distrust and disapproval!
...
Plainly a right wing smear.
If the GSA can go to expensive conventions, why not the VA ??
...
'Right Wing Smear', are you nuts? This is a crime against every tax payer in the nation and criminal charges should be filed against every person responsible. I'm not a 'right winger' as you put it, but I do pay taxes, and not for such a waste of them. We have veterans who need every dime we can provide them and all these idiots have done is deny them that. It is sickening in the best of times and worst now that our country is struggling through financial times. Wake up man!
Nothing New here- Either you work for the VA or you don't have a clue! VA doesn't have the resources for veterans needs but they think they are entitled to spend taxpayers money as if it was nothing. Not one of the jerks at this paid vacation should be on the payroll now if we had any honor or integrity in government anymore.