hearing. if you need additional help to move these along, anything we can do, i'll be glad to do. >> mr. connolly did you seek recognition? mr. connolly's recognized for 11 minutes. >> i promise, mr. chairman, i won't take that long and i thank you. i simply -- well, first of all, let me ask you, mr. werfel, you're in omb. did the administration increase the budget for inspector generals? >> what's gone on -- in some cases yes. for example i mentioned earlier the state department inspector general budget gone from $59 million in 2011 to $66 million in 2013. >> just looking at the global figure? >> well, globally, it has increased. it certainly hasn't decreased in any meaningful way. we're at $2.6 billion for igs in

2011. $2.7 billion for igs in 2012 and roughly $2.7 billion is in the presidential budget for 2015. i think that's notable, given, and just about every other area we're seeing significant cuts in discretionary programs and there's clearly evidence of ensuring that the cuts are not 4i9ing the igs. >> i would simply point out and then my friends on the other side of the aisle talk about government costing too much, but there are some investments that have a return on them. for example we know that the additional resources being proposed for ig offices have a return on them. do they not? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> recoverable funds in lost -- i mean, in increased efficiency and in certainly uncovering waste, fraud and abuse? >> yeah.

and we saw statistics earlier in the hearing that pointed to particular savings and accomplishments. >> would that not also be true, for example, of the general accounting office? >> yes. the government accountability office center that has impact in terms of having a positive -- >> this committee received testimony that as a matter of fact the ratio goes as high as $91 for every new $1 invessted n gao in terms of recoverable money and yet gao testified in terms of overall side, gao is town do a level we haven't seen since 1935, and then a third agency i could cite. irs. there's something like $400 billion of owed taxes on the table, not new taxes. not slashing investments. money that's ours. that's owed the american people, that is simply not collected for

want of resources. we know that every dollar we invest in a new irs agent has a direct return. is that not true, mr. werfel? >> we have evidence of particular activities within the irs who have a clear, positive return on investment. >> so it puzzles me sometimes that despite our rhetoric about wanting to reduce the debt, wanting to make sure that we get government right-sized we're not willing to make the investments sometimes in proven entities that can recover either lost revenue or avoid inefficiencies and improper payments. you testified many times on the improper payment issue. very little pain associated with that, huge payoff. final point i want to make is, and then i will yield back, mr. chairman, but the chairman talked about gsa. i do not share the clarity of the chairman about some of the

conversations he cited with respect to the white house. mr. miller, passing reference have you seen an ig report or the ig report, hardly means or is to be construed as recognition that full knowledge was made available, but i will point out, we had the ig from gsa here. we had the yowl going administrator who resigned as a matter of honor, after firing two deputies and putting a lot of other people on probation d and -- but the testimony we heard from the ig of gsa was that he didn't uncover this -- this excess. susan brita, the deputy to the administrator martha johnson uncovered it. she's the one who referred it to the ig. i asked the ig. been there since 2005 in place. heard no evil, saw no evil,

smelled no evil, found no evil, even though we know that this excessive celebration event preceded this administration and continued in this administration. but it wasn't the ig, with 300 personnel at his command, he didn't find this at all. only when the administrative staff referred it to him and then it took him nine months to come up with a report that frankly, i think almost anyone even on this panel could have written in half the time. so, yeah. having an ig is important, but i don't know that the ig is entirely the heroic figure, as is sometimes painted in this particular case. i think this -- if he was doing his job he could have uncovered this years before and maybe avoided the embarrassment of the situation. in any event, it was the appointed administrator and her staff that uncovered that excess, referred to properly to

him and he was able to investigate that. is that your understanding of that as well, mr. werfel? >> i wouldn't call myself an expert on all the moving piece, but it is my understanding that in this particular case, the deputy administrator referred the issue for further ig investigation. if i could, i just want to make a broader comment about omb's role in inspector general reports in response to your questions and congress mica's. we take ig findings and their reports extremely seriously. particularly those that affect financial management. part of our role is to bring chief financial officers and other members of the community together to understand what is going on in ig reports across government. what we can learn from them. the gsa report is no different. we need to understand better what happened so we can prevent it from happening again, and we need to explore with the broader

community what steps we can take to fix the issue and make government better going forward. that's the basic role that omb has with respect to ig reports and i think it's a very critical one and one we have fostered a very strong relationship with ms. fong and other igs around that shared mission of better government. >> thank you very much, and mr. chairman, i thank you for the time. >> well, thank you, and i do want to try to conclude the hearing today, but i did, again, have this information that was provided on our witness, that says danny werfel is the controller of the office of federal financial management. within the office of management budget he is responsible for coordinating omb's efforts to initiate government-wide improvements in all areas of financial management. when -- and again i use the gsa

example, and we did, in fact, have a former staffer who works at gsa, blow the whistle. a, an investigation was conducted, and properly so. a report -- that started in november after the -- well, after the october incident in 2010. in may, gsa and others were informed. administrators. we had the witnesses here. nothing was done. in june, the white house was advised. you said you knew the counsel, but didn't know the incident or didn't read the report. my whole point is here, was, this -- these were very serious allegations of abusive use of taxpayer dollars. okay. so it's reported, nothing's done. the guy takes off and launches another wasteful -- scenario,

and susan brita again blows the whistle and the inspector general begins an investigation. but somehow all of the cylinders don't seem to be clicking, and you say -- you just got through testifying to the gentleman from virginia that you get these reports, and they're taken seriously. my questioning was, do we require -- is this required? maybe we should require that this goes to omb and to you all. i guess you're just doing this as a matter of course? what i'm trying to do is get things to click so that some action is taken. that a the potential even at that stage i think, for criminal referrals. i don't know all the details on it, but, please, when it comes to financial initiating

government-wide improvements of all areas of financial management, yub got an agency spending money like that, it raises question. and that, my point was with, and then inspector general in place. but here we've got other agencies. at least a half a dozen, and we have some with 1,000 days. that's three years, nearly three, four years, four years, the state department, huge operations without somebody in charge on a permanent basis. i deal with acting administrators, and i'm telling you, it's difficult. i've got one right now on faa. i've got a tough situation there. so my point is not to give you a hard time. maybe a little bit. but -- but to see how we can improve this whole process. make certain you have the tools. i have no problem with giving

you additional funds, and it was testified you're going from $26 billion to $27 billion. that's fine. you have a good rate of return when you're doing your job. it's an $18 return on $1 spent, i believe. so i could double the money if i could get more benefits back and better management, cut the debt and spending for the taxpayer. so that's my point today, and this we do have an important responsibility here, because sometimes the authorizers don't get it right. sometimes the appropriate raorst spend money and don't get it right. where that third entity that the founding fathers to make certain -- you look at other governments. they have somewhat of a similar structure, but none have, again, a structure like our committee

that keeps going after waste, fraud and abuse, which is so important keeping the system straight and making it work better and more efficiently. so with that, commentary, i thank you for your participation. i would like you to also provide the committee with additional information. we'll be sending you writ requests, and i wish you would respond. are we leaving the record open here? has there already been -- okay. so the record will be left open for additional comments and response. with that being said, and i see no further members here, the house government reform and oversight committee will stand adjourned, and i thank our witnesses for taking time to

appear before us today. this committee stands adjourned. c-span's congressional directly is a complete guide to the 112 congress. inside you'll find each member of the house and senate including contact information some district maps and committee

assignments. also information ob cabinet member, supreme court justices and the nation's governors. you can pick up a copy for $12.95 plus shipping and handling. go to c-span.org/shop. furthermore, i remain optimistic about the future of indiana, and the united states of america. the news media and political leaders spend a great deal of time talking about what is broken in our country. and to some delay is the nature of their business. but we should also have confidence that the unique american experiment is alive and well, and our political system still can work. >> tuesday night, longtime indiana republican senator richard lugar lost to primary challenger richard mourdock. look back at his career including work in the '90s with senator sam nunn on a nuclear disarmament program in the former soviet union. all online, archived and

searchable at the c-span video library. defense secretary leon panetta and the chair of the joint chief of staffs martin dempsey will be briefing reporters at the pentagon today. scheduled for 2:00 p.m. eastern. live right here on c-span3. you'll hear it on c-span radio. and a little later in the day here on c-span3, a conversation on u.s./russia relations. president obama is hosting a g-8 summit at camp david next week and russia's newly sworn in president vladimir putin is skipping that saying he's busy forming his new cabinet. sending his prime minister, medvedev. the center for strategic and international studies starts live here on c-span3 at 5:00 p.m. eastern. prince harry of wales made his first trip to washington this week and at the atlantic council accepted an award for

humanitarian work. mika brzezinski of msnbc opened the event. >> it's chairman senator chuck hagel and president and sheo fred. good evening and welcome to the atlantic council's 2012 annual awards dinner. >> this is our fourth time as emcees, we keep coming because because we deeply believe in the organization and its mission and also because we love fred. >> and, of course, you. and you're so lovable right now. so lovable and so respectful. >> maybe we should have a prayer. >> and so diplomatic. >> can we pray? let us pray. >> have a pray. >> that doesn't work here. you know, that mission, of course, of the atlantic council is to constantly renew and refresh the atlantic community.

>> shhhhh. >> the mission of the atlantic council is to constantly renew the atlantic community and its partnerships around the world. and to take on a host of global challenges. and we have so many of them. iranian nukes, afghanistan, the eurozone crisis and containment -- >> of our secret service personnel. that's why we are fortunate that

the atlantic council has never been stronger in its half century history and its nine programs and centers have never been more relevant. this event marks the culmination of the council's 50th anniversary, which began last year at this time when we honored vice president joe biden, muhtar kent and admiral jim stavridis. and placido domingo. >> and yet tonight it's more about the next 50 years than the last half century. our awardees this evening demonstrate the global reach of this council, and they're carefully chosen to represent excellence and service in their field, plus, they have a deep track record to the commitment of the transatlantic community and, of course, to the world. >> tonight we will honor united nations secretary general ban ki-moon with the distinguished leadership award. prince henry of wales will be honored with a distinguished

leadership award as well. >> the men and women of the u.s. armed forces will also be honored for distinguished military leadership. paul polman for distinguished business leadership rand anne sophie mutter for distinguished artistic leadership. >> and our awardees are awarded by a similarly high-level and global audience. we have nearly 800 guests from over 62 countries, including the former president of poland and the former prime ministers of pakistan and spain. 47 ambassadors to the united states, 22 chief executives of global companies and countless

members of the u.s.ish european and local governments. welcome to you all. >> and also to your mom and dad. >> and my parents also are here. please point to my parents. you? please point to my parents. i'm going to find you. >> they're out there somewhere. >> and ian. >> it's now my great pleasure to introduce our distinguished co-dinner chairs we ask you to hold the. [ applause ] to the end. co-chairs we ask you to stand to ugh recognize your amazing contributions to the atlantic council. robert aber nath yi. victor chu. thomas cullgan. frank hawn. george lund, alexander --

[ applause ] >> now to begin this evening is our old friend, not old, but a good friend. >> he's old, too. >> no he's not. >> he's kind of old. >> stop it. chuck hagel he's one of the men who constantly remind us what's best about washington. [ applause ] from serving his country in vietnam to the united states senate, he also serves as co-chairman of the president's intelligence advisory board. as co-chair of the president's

shine 1,000 strong initiative and as member of the secretary of defense's policy board. >> ladies and gentlemen, our friend and great leader senator chuck hagel. [ applause ] >> mika, thank you. i'm grateful this is all old chuck. i'm here on behalf of the board of directors of the atlantic council to thank you. to acknowledge what each of you continue do do for the atlantic council. you make a better world for all of us. that is the essence of why we recognize those tonight that joe and mika have already

acknowledged because they represent what is best in mankind and they represent contributions to man kind that are made in different ways. that is much of who we are after 50 years at the atlantic council. everyone in this audience knows that we are all living at a time of global course correction. it is going to require strengthening our coalitions of common interests. it is going to require developing alliances of cooperation. and it's going to require building new platforms of partnership. these honorees today all recognize that and they all are building toward that. i want to also on behalf of the board of directors and this institution recognize fred kemp and his marvelous staff and all

who work so hard on behalf of this institution and what it stands for and what it believes in and how it affects our world. too oech of you, thank you. last comment -- [ applause ] >> not unlike anyone or any other institution in the world we are all playing for the future, that means our young people. that means helping shape and frame their future. their understanding and helping them anchor that to the transatlantic alliance is part of that. but that importance of the transatlantic alliance at this time in the world is not at the exclusion. cannot be at the exclusion of our other partners all over the world. the transatlantic alieps is special. it has a special role to play.

but that too is in partnership with other nations and other peoples. ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the evening. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> so i'm told that my republican brother ian is here somewhere off this way and my parents are in the middle at one of the central tables. mom and dad, can you stand up. [ applause ] >> yes, there they are. mom looks beautiful and dad was on the show this morning and he was extremely well behaved. >> he was well behaved. that's not always the case of course a first time he came on our show, i decided to debate him in middle east politics and his response after a very well

thought out, well articulated argument was, you know, you are astoundingly superficial. >> i warned you not to have him on. >> and i didn't listen. >> having said that, that was affection. >> no doubt. so ladies and gentlemen, now, it's our pleasure to introduce to you the president and the ceo of the atlantic council. in the past five years he's presided over a period of enormous growth and accomplishment from a successful career at "the wall street journal" where he was a prize winning correspondent, columnist and editor and now he is author of four books. in fact, mika predicted last year that fred's book was going to be a bestseller immediately and as usual mika was right. >> as usual i was 100% correct. so ladies and gentlemen, please

join me in welcoming atlantic council president ceo and national best-selling author fred kemp. [ applause ] >> thanks, mika and joe. the check's in the mail. this is the fourth year joe and mika have done this. and it's because -- tz because you in the audience demand it. in fact, let me read an email i received from one atlantic council international advisory board member when i announced that this year that perhaps they would not be emcees. quote, dear fred, could you please cede all of your time to mika this year. don't worry about joe, unquote.

signed doctors bring since ki. tv doesn't offer a lot of bipartisan, smart, must watch programs of your sort, mika and joe. you really are doing us a service. it's a great match for the bipartisan compelling work we try to do in the national transatlantic and global interest. we have a great lineup for you this evening and truly global. so what do you get when you take a british royal soldier and philanthropist, a dutch business visionary, a german violin virtue owe so and a south korean global leader? you get the atlantic council's 2012 awards dinner. we're here to recognize the 1.5 million active men and women of the u.s. armed forces for their sacrifices, dedication and service.

[ applause ] >> we have about four dozen enlisted men and women joining us this evening. i won't name them all, but sitting amongst us, among the others we have the coast guards. if you hold your applause, but i would like them to stand. the coast guard's 2010 enlisted person of the year for the national capital region petty officer dean johnston. the air force's wing airmen of the year, the marine corp.'s 2011 joint staff noncommissioned aufrgs of the year sergeant jessica devillea. all six meks of the u.s. naval ceremony yal guard drill team and five members of the army's ceremonial guard based in arlington cemetery and the senior military fellows of the atlantic council. all enlisted men and women who are in the audience please rise now