[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 6] [Senate] [Pages 8343-8344] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]AIR FORCE BOONDOGGLES COST TAXPAYERS BILLIONS The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, last week it was reported by the Associated Press that an Air Force communications satellite worth $800 million had ended up in the wrong orbit. This was the third failure in a row for the Air Force Titan IV program, at a total loss to the taxpayers of over $3 billion. This latest satellite not only ended up in the wrong orbit, it ended up in a lopsided orbit thousands of miles below its intended orbit. I have taken the floor many times over the years to point out examples of wasteful or exorbitant Federal spending. John Martin has for several years had a segment called It's Your Money on the ABC national television news, pointing out almost every week some example of horrible Federal waste. He has performed a great service to this Nation in bringing this series to the attention of the American people. The examples, unfortunately, are far too easy to find. Examples of ridiculously wasteful Federal spending are everywhere. It has made me wonder if the Federal Government can do anything in an efficient or economical way. But this Titan IV program really takes the cake. Three failures at a cost of $3 billion; $3 billion down the drain. What really adds insult to injury, Mr. Speaker, is that, because this is the Federal Government, no one will really be held accountable for this. In the private sector if a company had three major failures like this, heads would roll in a big way. Of course, in the private sector, no company could afford $3 billion in failures unless possibly it was a big-time Federal contractor subsidized by the taxpayer. The Appropriation Committees of the House and Senate should demand accountability here. They should not stand for $3 billion from three failed launches. But the easiest thing in the world, Mr. Speaker, is to spend other people's money. So what are we going to do? Thursday we are going to give big increases in pay and pensions and funding for the same Air Force that has sat around and allowed this $3 billion in failures to occur. Federal employees are great at rationalizing or justifying even ridiculous losses. I am sure that the Air Force will have some great excuses, and everyone connected with this will be able to explain why it was not their fault. Well, somebody is at fault and probably several people, and they should lose their jobs over this. Even though we talk about a billion dollars up here like it was very little, $3 billion is still an awful lot of money. This satellite, as I said earlier, cost $800 million. Last Friday's mission alone cost $1.23 billion. Just think how much good could have been done with the total $3 billion in losses in this Titan IV Air Force program. Now, I favor a strong military and I believe we should have a strong Air Force, but I do not believe we should just sit back and allow any part of the military to throw away $3 billion. We should not just cavalierly accept this. Several years ago, Edward Rendell, the Democratic Mayor of Philadelphia, said at a congressional hearing, ``Government does not work because it was [[Page 8344]] not designed to. There is no incentive for people to work hard so many do not. There is no incentive for people to save money so much of it is squandered.'' How true this statement was and is. This is why it has been proven over and over and over again all over this world that the more money that can be left in the private sector, the better off everyone is; the lower prices are, the more jobs that are created, the better the economy is. Competitive pressures force the private sector to spend money wisely, to spend it in economical, efficient, conservative, productive ways. Private companies do not have the luxury the government has of being able to waste billions with almost no meaningful repercussions. The Air Force should publicly apologize for dropping this $3 billion down this Titan IV rat hole. The Congress should be assured that nothing like this will ever happen again. It is really sad, Mr. Speaker, to take $3 billion from the families and children of this country, many of whom are barely getting by, to give to highly paid bureaucrats and Air Force officers to just blow in this way. What would be even sadder would be if the Air Force and everyone associated with these failures is not deeply embarrassed and ashamed. ____________________