WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. French Hill will call out federal agencies or employees that misuse or waste federal money through a "Golden Fleece" award, he announced Wednesday on the House floor.
The award will revive a 13-year project begun by former U.S. Sen. William Proxmire, D-Wis., who announced 168 monthly winners of the Golden Fleece award between 1975 and 1988.
"I rise today to re-establish the Golden Fleece award to once again uncover and bring public attention to the wasteful spending of our federal government," Hill said on the House floor.
"The Golden Fleece award will highlight some of the most egregious examples of government waste of hardworking taxpayers' dollars and shed new light on some of the rampant, unnecessary spending by the federal government," the Arkansas Republican said.
In an interview afterward, Hill said he got the idea from watching Proxmire while working as a staff member on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs in the early 1980s.
"I always personally enjoyed Bill Proxmire's passion around uncovering what he perceived to be waste in federal spending programs across the government, highlighting it and calling the attention of the American taxpayers," Hill said.
Recipients named by Proxmire included an $84,000 National Science Foundation study to find out why people fall in love and a $6,000 17-page document that the Army produced in 1981 on how to buy a bottle of Worcestershire sauce.
When Proxmire left the Senate in 1988, colleagues offered to continue handing out the awards, but he asked them not to do so. Proxmire asked the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense to pick up the practice in 2000. Proxmire died in 2005.
The group announces about one recipient a year, with the next one expected in the next few days, said Taxpayers for Common Sense Vice President Steve Ellis. The group tries to uphold Proxmire's standard that the award be humorous and not reported elsewhere, he said.
"It's certainly something that we think is important, and we welcome anybody to highlight waste," he said.
Hill said he doesn't have a schedule for how often he'll name a recipient, but he said it should occur regularly.
"We'll see what we come up with," Hill said.
Many local, state and federal groups hand out similar awards. In California, the San Diego County Taxpayers Association announced this week that the finalists for its Golden Fleece award were a city government and a school district. Conservative grass-roots group Citizens for the Republic, based in Alexandria, Va., issues a weekly Golden Fleece award.
U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., issues the "Golden Goose" award, which highlights obscure or unusual government research that has led to major breakthroughs or had large societal effects.
Hill said he plans to coordinate with spending and regulatory watchdog groups and other members of Congress to pick Golden Fleece recipients.
"We'll be in touch with everybody who is watching," Hill said.
He also will solicit recommendations from Arkansans as well as people from across the country.
"If it affects hardworking taxpayer families, it affects our taxpaying families in the 2nd District," Hill said.
Those who want to participate can use #GoldenFleeceOversight on Twitter or visit Hill.house.gov/GoldenFleece.
Hill said he was prompted to restart the award by news that solar panels installed at the Little Rock Veterans Affairs hospital over a year ago were taken down to make way for a new parking deck that was approved at the same time as the solar panels.
About 7,300 panels were installed in the parking lot of John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital in 2013 at a cost of around $8 million. VA officials said they never had been activated because they do not meet the requirements to go online in Entergy's electrical system.
"In recent weeks as I've grappled with trying to get answers out of the Veterans Administration on the solar panel issue over at the McClellan Hospital, it was certainly a prime example of exactly what I'm talking about," he said.
He also referred to a medical center for veterans in a Denver suburb that the VA announced in April is estimated to cost $1 billion, more than the $880 million cap Congress had set.
"It's just so flabbergasting," Hill said. "I don't know how anyone can not be outraged by that and demand answers."
A Section on 05/21/2015