(Washington, DC) -

Statement from the House Floor

By Rep. Cynthia McKinney

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, the Pentagon announced it's returning $288 out of $300  million dollars it was holding while investigating Halliburton for overcharging, even though Halliburton was previously caught overcharging the Pentagon by $27 million dollars for meals for our troops.

Mr. speaker, even as tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina survivors face eviction due to FEMA, the United States Government is handing hundreds of millions of dollars to a company which has been plagued by allegations and admissions of fraud, waste, abuse, bribery, and kickbacks. The Coalitional Provisional Authority in Iraq was itself unable to account for $9 billion dollars, with over a billion of this reportedly having been lost to Halliburton.

Today I urge Congress to establish a permanent war profiteering committee modeled after the Truman Commission after the Second World War. Before this congress writes the president another blank check, we need to investigate the gross incompetence and even corruption that exists with this Administration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.