>> continuing to perpetuate its own problems. >> away from a culture of spend thrift, toward a culture of thrift, 62% of americans view the government unfavorably. could this be by? >> $44 for breakfast. i'm a big man. i can't spend that for breakfast the rest of america would never conceive of a $7 monte cristo mini sandwich, neither would you. >> $822,000 spent in las vegas by the gsa should be a farewell party. >> greta: the general services administration throwing a lavish conference with an $822,000 price tag, with sushi dinner, clown, mind readers -- and the workers are laughing as you as they were taking this money right out of your pocket. the man who planned this over-the-top conference, jeff

neely, was caught relaxing as if on a five-star vacation on so-called scouting trip, all on your dime. congress tried to ask him about the absurd spending, he clammed up and pled the fifth. >> i respectfully decline to answer... >> greta: after this got out, martha johnson resigned in disgrace. two top aides were fired and 10 others were placed on leave. the inspector general called the conference excessive and wasteful. one huge question remain it's why did it take 11 months for that i.g. report to be publishd? if you think the gsa is alone in waste philadelphia ending of your money, you are dead wrong this. culture of waste, fraud and at times, crime, is pandemic, it's i.c.e., bscc, noaa and more. after a grilling, appalling debails on how your money was spent. what's the white house response? a half million dollar conference

cap and be careful stewards of taxpayer funds. that's the answer? we are digging deeper to uncover how things got so out of control. welcome to our "on the record" special -- government gone wild. over the hour, you will hear from scott brown who says that it's a national oceanic and atmospheric administration -- noaa, the group that wanted to hire a magician for an event, is doing many more frivolous things than that and it's the tip of the iceberg. >> there is a complete lack of accountability. >> greta: hear from senator tom coburn, congressman john mica and the many other examples of fraud, scams and schemes that will leave you fuming. they're draining your wallet and your faith in government. ch we spoke with former governor sarah palin, who was steamed about the waste. >> what are we getting for the

tax dollars taken from our income, being sent to the federal government today? we are getting -- higher unemployment numbers than when barack obama first took over. we are getting less energy secure than when barack obama took over. there are so many problems in the federal government and it does -- this leadership, starting at the top, if the president isn't held accountable to make sure he's appointing the right people in these positions to run our government, we are in a world of hurt. >> greta: we spoke with the chair of the house oversight government reform committee, darrell issa about the gsa scandal. my thought is, i am pretty revved up about this because i think it's appalling. when i think of what $840,000 could do for so many important projects in the government, or so many needs, whether it's veterans learning to work with amputated arms or whatever it is. i see this, i am pretty revved up about it. but 11 months, $800-some

thousand dollars and it takes 11 months to figure out that there is a problem? i would see that and i think, you know, you know, twha is someone drinking you? how could this happen? i don't think it would take me 11 minutes. >> that's right. you would have thought that the admotorror -- administrator would have been doing everything to correct this, so when the final report came out 11 months late, she would say, yes, we understand, but we fix t.d this is an area that is so irritating. this administration wants to say they took quick action, but in fact, they have known about it for 11 months and took no action and until the press was about to get wind of it. >> greta: before that, nent 2008 with a democratic congress, who should have been providing oversight and a republican white house, it was $655,000 on a lavish party. two years early, $323 thousand. i realize it's less as the years go back. but what were we spending a dime

for civil servant for the government when we have high unemployment, people don't have jobs or job security, what are we spending a dime on this stuff? >> well, greta, you are right on one of the most important things, it was a trend, a direction, a cultural shift making this more and more -- if you will -- easy to do. so by the time it came to the $800,000 party, the fact is the damage had been going on for a period of time, unchecked. you make the most important point, which is congress has to be proactive. we have to see the trends coming. we have to have more direct relation welts i.g.s and the other parts of the government. we need the transparency so we can be part of the solution, whether the administration is willing to take action or not. >> greta: how do we get that? how do the american people get ha? we wasm congress fight over the budget, one side wants taxes raised and another side doesn't want taxes raised and we look at the waste and fraud and we

think, maybe you ought to do your oversight and stop wasting. maybe we don't need as much money. the american people are watching. you guys -- i appreciate you coming here -- but a lot of it is really, the problem is, you know, you members of congress and the white house are part of the problem -- a big part of it! >> well, fail tower do your job is certainly something that congress should be held accountable because we have failed to do our job of keeping after this ever growing bureaucracy, which is our responsibility. we shouldn't fund it and forget. but senator coburn and myself are working on modernization, we call the data act. getting the kind of reporting that would know only allow us to look better into government, but allow the public to see it. the expenses should be transparent to the public. everyone in america should be able to to know what happened in las vegas, how many people were there and how much money was spent. you have a right to know. we have a need to know. can we get both of those in a

way, essentially like a google search, you would be able to find out. that's what senator coburn has been working on for years. we think the time has come to order that, to make the administration more transparent, not because of this president but because of every president. >> greta: i shutter to think of how many other parts of the government are having these parties. but the other thing i can't escape theirey, i have quoted tom coburn many times about the fact that he commissioned a study about waste and fraud in the government, about a foot tall on my desk. it's been there for months. who did he commission to do the waste and fraud? the ones who are partying in vegas. it's just, you know, you can't make shthis stuff up. it's so appalling. i question, every american wants to know, how many other agencies of the government are having parties? do you have any ideas? >> a good example. when we were last in the majority in 2005-06, as a

subcommittee chairman, i was working on mineral management service and the parties they were having, paid for by the oil and companies that did business with the government in violation of all the laws and they in fact, told us that they thought it was necessary, they needed to have this close working relationship with those they over saw, fast forward, four years, the gulf is filled with oil and once again, you have too close a relationship between the regulators and the regulated. so this isn't the only time there has been lavish parties. it isn't the only time that government has sort of thought it was their right and entitlement. the question is, when will congress start putting its assets into making sure that we have transparency, that's going to be my signature of my chairmanship, can i get this and the next administration to change their ways and become transparent? not just give it lip service, but provide the online capability, not just for my

committee. but for crew, groups on the lift and right who want to know about west in government. the only way they are going to get that access is if we change how you access the records, including things like this kind of spending. >> greta: you get to go inside the gsa. it was publicly flog in the congressional hearings with yelling and scolding. but jeff neely remained stunningly silent, pleading the fifth. gsa inspector brian miller and former administrator martha johnson also testified that day. we spoke with the former administrator of the gsa in the bush administration and asked her what she thought of the first day of the hearings. >> it was appalling. it was absolutely shocking. but it was shocking maybe for different reasons to me than maybe what other americans saw. i saw the question of competence because you saw the leaders of gsa, the administrator, the chief of staff, all saying they

really didn't know what was going on. they really didn't think it was their responsibility to figure out what was going on. and even though after they were told it was okay to award bonuses to folks they knew had violated the public trust. >> greta: explain to me, if i am a regional director and i hold a conference, do i submit a budget in advance or a bill after the fact? >> i have to tell you, you should be submitting budgets and get approvals in advance. however it's very clear after today's hearing that the current obama administration appointees at gsa have radically departed from the procedures put in place, at least during the bush administration. >> greta: i am surprised at the former -- martha johnson. she testified eye am paraphrasing, that for the rest of her life, she is going to regret that she lost this appointment. i thought to myself, that's the least of your regrets. i mean, think what have this amount of money, this culture of theft from the american people.

think about that what that money could have done to people, whether it's a school or firefighter, we talk all the time about firefighters and teachers being cut. we wouldn't have to if we weren't throwing lavish parties. >> it's the incredible waste. there is no realization across the group of fellows that were being interviewed by the congressmen about the waste that they had caused. but what was more incredible to me was martha johnson, was that she didn't seem to understand that she had delegated away all of her responsibilities, her statutory responsibilities for financial management, for personal management and also her responsibility to meet with her inspector general. >> greta: you can't expect to do every task. have you to -- >> but you do have responsibility and accountability for how it's performed. >> greta: all right. tell me, mr. neely, when he took the fifth amendment, any thought about him?

>> what i saw was that, you saw a lot of the democrat congressmen looking for -- they needed to circle the wagons, they needed to pin this on someone. and by jeff neely, a career -- senior executive service employee, taking the fifth, that was the person they were going to pin it on, so to cordon off the white house from any blame. i don't think they succeeded because i think that congressman issa got to the point that the white house new -- knew and knew for 11 months. >> greta: how do you get rid of a government employee? >> have you to pick up the phone, call john barry at the office of personal manage. and you say i have an employee way out of control -- he's a career employee -- but he has violated the public trust and stolen taxpayer dollars and abused the good reputation of the agency. vidocumented it and i need you to take action and i need it to be immediate. it's very hard and you will be

blamed. but it's the right thing to do. >> greta: he is on leave, but he is getting paid. how do you stop someone from getting paid? is he presumed innocent? you know, i think people should be presumed innocent. but this could go on forever on the payroll. >> although it could be 11 months to get the report and the report seems to be final. it's conclusive that there wasabuses and his name is on it. they should be on leave without pay. the government does have the option to make someone go on leave without pay. >> greta: who makes that option? >> the administrator! >> greta: gsa. >> to justify to the office of personnel management. >> greta: what took the inspector general so long? >> that's an excellent question. if you were proactive and alerted folks in advance, you could stop the abuse, stop the waste of taxpayer money. yes, they sent letters to recover fund, but that's only a few thousand dollars when we are talking about almost $1 million on one event.

and what's happened in the subsequent 11 months? >> greta: we are lucky that the inspector general wasn't a firefighter because the family would have burned down i. i dong we have to be concerned because he did say very quietly, but he did say, he was looking into other mismechanicment of funds and looking into bribes, looking into potential kickbacks. if it took 11 months on a conference that was clearly a no brainer, don't do it. it was wrong. i worry how long it would take to uncover the rest. >> greta: straight ahead, gsa -- at it again. forget the $800,000-plus for the lavish vegas conference. dhoos a drop in the bucket. gsa is losing nearly $1 billion every year. how?! isn't anyone trying to stop it? that's next. also, shredding legal documents during a shredding party? spending $300,000 on a party boat.

scott brown says that's what noaa is doing, the agency who tried to hire a magician for an event, all on your dime. hear from senator scott brown. s look at you and just see a policy. at aviva, we do things differently. our wellness for life program rewards you with savings just for getting a check-up, and it's only from aviva.

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>> greta: more than $800,000 is

wasted? well, that's nothing. try billions of dollars. that's what congressman john mica says the gsa is doing right now. how are they doing it? griff jenkins caught up with the congressman. >> reporter: the federal government is the nation's largest asset hold wer nearly 900,000 properties, over 3 billion square feet and over 40 million acres of lan. but many of the properties are under utilized, mismag managed or sitting empty, costing billions of dollars. you don't have to look hard. in fact, we are a few blocks from the u.s. capitol, where this building, owned by the gsa, has been sitting empty over five years. congressman john mica of the transportation and infrastructure committee wants something done about t. where are we? >> we are in an empty federal building that has been vacant for five years, costing the taxpayers a lot of money. as you can see, there is nobody here.

>> reporter: and in this particular building, you said it's empty for five years. whose building is it? why is it empty? >> it's the people's building. it's under the control of gsa. it's costing, not just this building, but across the country, we are losing probably a billion dollars a year, plus, in assets that are sitting idle, like this property. >> reporter: what do you want done with this? why don't they sell this? >> i did a little report. we looked at -- some of the wasteful fend -- spending. the tilt of the report is the federal government must sitting on its assets. we are in one of the assets, we are sitting on. but if you look at this building and believe this or not, 14,000 properties across the country that the federal government controls that are either vacant or under utilized.

>> reporter: the gsa told me they manage in the national capitol region here 100 million square feet n. fairness to them, it's not, it's difficult -- it is not like they can walk out front and put a for sale sign up. there is bureaucracy. >> there is politics. there are people who want to keep things as they are. some of sm people -- some people benefit by the politics of this and that. that's why we set up working with mr. denim, from the building subcommittee. we set up a brack-type commission, like we have done with excess military property or, again, as we change operations from the military, doing away with some of theirs because the military could make decisions to do with the property. >> reporter: this is the cotton annex, a block from

independence avenue and the national mall. >> this is 90,000 square feets, but it's on one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in the united states. it goes almost to the mall in the nation's capitol. it is under utilized and vacant for years. >> >> greta: coming up, if you thought it ends with the gsa, you are so wrong. try this, a top intelligence official billing you from fake trips, buying a house and a boat on your dime. but there is more -- so much more. senator scott brown says noaa, the group that tried to hire a magician with your money is shredding documents, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a party boat. he wants the head of noaa fired. >> they need to have magicians to fix it. [ male announcer ] what's in your energy drink? ♪

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>> greta: it is not just sushi dinner and dancing gumby, gsa is not the only organization spending your money. noaa wanted to hire a magician. but that's not all. according to senator scott brown from massachusetts, when the media got wind of noaa trying to hire a magician as a method of teaching leadership, noaa yanked

the ad. but they can't make their problems disappear and the troubles go way sfurghter than one entertainer. griff jenkins with scott brown. >> reporter: what's going on with noaa? >> you tell me. there is a complete lack of accountability. you have the party boats that they purchase with noaa find money, where the engine broke and they had to get towed in. you have the magicians they are hiring at conferences. you have a complete lack of accountability. it is very, very frustrating, not only for me, but the fisherman whose lives of dramatically affected by this. >> reporter: let's separate those. the magician, after the gsa scandal, noaa wanted to hire a magician? >> it shows there is a complete disregard for the finds and monies they are getting. i have called for a firing. i think that's a good start to re-establish the trust between the federal government and the fishermen because right now, they are hurting. there is a complete lack of trust, not only with the

science, but with the administration as a whole. >> reporter: what specifically did noaa did that, you know, impacts american taxpayers, when it comes to like the party boat? a lot of our viewers may be hearing about this for the first time. >> thri should look at the independent report. there was a host of things from shredding party, where somebody was being investigated, actually shredded 70% of the documents. the lack of us requesting documents to verify a lot of things that were in effect, being done. a complete lack of trust between the fishermen and noaa with the science associated with determining what fish stocks can be fished and what fish stocks can't be fished. you talk about the finds. three, four, five times higher fining for massachusetts fishermen than anywhere else in the country. that money went to buy a party boat, a $300,000 yacht where they went out and partied. >> reporter: officials at noaa?

>> officials at noaa. they had more vehicles than employees. they didn't go through the appropriate process to actually work to in fact get the vehicles. so there is a systemic lack of accountability. really, i have called for a hiring. i have asked for her resignation or firing. new commerce chi should put somebody in there who can re-establish that very important trust between the fishermen and the administration. >> reporter: you took to the senate floor and said, what does it take to get fired at noaa? >> hia hearing in boston and asked that very question, especially after i heard the atrocities with the inappropriate fines and the spending of fishermen fine monies, which are directly now taxpayer monies, for things that they just don't need. >> reporter: in the case of noaa advertising to hire a magician, that seems pretty

outrageous, after government agencies like gsa have already been laid out -- >> maybe they were hiring a magician to do the political bodgey-wodgey, with the fishermen fine monies. they need magicians who fix it. i am calling on the commerce secretary to fire the head, put somebody in there to re-establish that trust and get everybody on track. there is -- there is not one fisherman that i know that wants to have any species of fish disappear. they want to do sustainable, thoughtful, methodical fishing so they can provide a good product on the people's tables and also have that for the generations to come. but when you have a complete lack of trust, when it comes to dealing with the science, it's -- it's a problem. >> reporter: is it your sense that this is just a blatant disregard for american taxpayer

dollars? >> there is some issues. i am hopeful they will get their act together. we need to make sure that we are a good steward of the taxpayer money because the federal government is not a good -- steward of taxpayer money. the way that the fine money was spent on pleasure boats and getting additional vehicles and hiring, potentially, a magician, it's wrong, you know it's wrong, i know it's wrong and the viewers will know. >> greta: noaa responded to some of the accusations, here's part of the statement. noaa take embassy allegation of waste, fraud and abuse seriously and when warranted takes action to ensure that processes are put in place... >> greta: noaa said it took down the ad for the magician and is

reviewing the process. have you heard about the gross, inexcusable waste. but some are way beyond wasteful spending, andure out-and-out criminal. like this. one of the top officials at customs enforcement agency, i.c.e., pled guilt tow stealing your money. >> reporter: this is a monumental breakdown. number 1; you have the travel scam, a guy, acting director of intelligence, the second largest investigative agency in our government after the fbi, he is way up here. he's running this thing, right? so he has all of this underlings, when they travel, he approves their expense accounts, basically and gets a kickback for half what have they get from the government. secondly, he was billing the government for trips he never took, 11 to new york city, others, places around the country, but he didn't work. he didn't go.

he took all the money for himself. he bought another house and a boat with this money. so you have that scam. but then you have the other breakdown here, which is the intelligence thing. these guys are supposed to have a periodic review. it wasn't just him at the lead. the head of intelligence in elpas oh doing the same thing, traveling to the middle-east, on unauthorized trips with a passport he was not supposed to have, depositing money abroad, bringing money back. they had no idea where it was coming from and they didn't catch it -- over 15 years and the scam went on 3 1/2 years. you have i.c.e. and the intelligence oversight. >> greta: you say the word breakdown and i almost want to go ballistic. i mean -- not at you. but the whole idea that it is so outrageous that nobody caught this, nobody was watching. nobody cared. you know, hundreds of thousands

of dollars, belonging to other people and the government said, well, it was a breakdown, we should have had better oversight. the american people should be lived. livid. >> you want to get mad? >> greta: yeah. >> when they submitted expense accounts, they were not required to submit receipts. you say, i stayed at the marriott a month and-a-half, give me $6,000 and the government would pay it without even seeing any backup receipt. now, now this guy's live-in girlfriend, he helped write her resume, got her a job at i.c.e., she became her personal assistant and she ran the scam and created false receipts on her computer to submit as backup when they did begin to require them. they had to be in your file at your desk. that's unbelievable. but imagine that your supervisor, you can take 11 trips to new york and elsewhere, not go and no one knows you weren't there. what kind of oversight is that?

>> greta: i aming go to take the last word. that's dhs. they are asleep at the wheel and congress, which has the responsibility of watching our moan, and they are not doing their job. it's absolutely appalling. william, thank you. >> you bet. >> greta: coming up, you know you are not supposed to surf the web at work, but not just surfing the web, but checking out porn. not just any workers, the men who are supposed to be the stewards of our financial industry, the one who is missed the madoff scandal, the sec. but wait until you hear their so-called punishment. senator coburn is here. politicians should be on notice. he says this culture of waste, this culture of careerism is hurting our country. hear from senator coburn. from around the world...

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>> from america's news headquarters, i'm marianne rafferty. afghanistan on the agenda, as president obama met with newel elected french president. meeting with mr. obama, the french president says he will remove all combat troops in a year, two years ahead of a timeline. president obama did not respond. but the white house has says that the coalition will remain firm, even if some countries pull back. check out your medicine cabinet. pfizer has recalled adv. >> caller:l liquid jells, due to a strongoidor in the product. since march, the company has isolated the issue and taken corrective action. so far, no reports of illnesses, related to the recall. now, back to our "on the record" special, government gone wild. you are watching the most powerful name in news, fox newschannel. news, foxnews.com. >> greta: it's absolutely outrageous, all of this

government waste. yes! but is it anything new? nope! we at "on the record" have been investigating and reporting to you where your tax dollars are going. looka we found n2010, workers at the securities and exchange commission -- sec -- were busted, checking out porn on your dime at work. so what ended up happening? did heads roll? we spoke with david druker of roll call. >> david, refresh our memory, what happened with the sec in 2010? >> so there were a number of workers at the sec, people in executive positions, using their workplace computers to watch pornography. >> how many people? two, people, 10, 15? >> it seemed that it was about 2 and-a-half dozen. somewhere in the neighborhood of 30. some of the people made upwards of more than $100,000 a year. a number of people did this. it was found out. there were investigations in

congress, some workers resigned. some were censured. it's possible some were fired. we know that government contractors that were doing this lost their contracts. and then the whole thing just sort of went away because there is only so much the government can do whether it found it it's acting in ways unbecoming. >> reporter: the head of the sec didn't lose his job -- >> the chairman of the sec wouldn't lose their job, that's presidential appointment. the president -- i think wisely chose not to yank that appointment. but there were employees who were suspended without pay, docked, if you will. there were government contractors, of course want everyone who works for the fwft is an employee, some are contractors with their own businesses or work for private firms. but there is not a lot that can be done beyond firing some

people. even that can be difficult because the government -- there are a number of workplace rules involved that make it difficult for the government to fire people for all sorts of reasons that -- that a government -- a bureaucrat may want to fire employees. so i think that's why we didn't see a mass firing. of course, congress can't do much except investigate. so you had senator charles grassley, a republican, hauled a bunch of people up to the hill. a republican in the house, darrell issa, chairman of the government oversight committee, he hauled a bunch of people up and asked questions about this. but congress cannot order the executive branch or any agency within the executive branch, which is the president's pursue view, can't order them to fire people. >> reporter: bottom line on this, david? the american people can get outraged, the government employees are looking at porn on their tax dollars, but there is very little they can do to call for their heads? >> well, yeah. look, what they could do is show up in washington en masse and

start screaming bloody murder that i want people fired and i want things different. if the president or members of congress feel like their job is threatened because of that, there will be action of some sort. but absent that, politicians look at the larger problems, the things they think people care more b. you know, oftentimes, what we learn in politics is that even if something is deserving attention, if a member of congress or a president focuses on an issue that is deserving of attention and americans don't care that much about or if they care less about it than other issues, they are not going to get rewarded for fixing it, they are going to get blamed for not focusing on the issue that is deemed more important. there is no motivation to deal with something that nobody's thinking about. >> greta: straight ahead, senator tom coburn is here. he says he doesn't want to demean his colleagues, but... he is not pulling his punches.

he has a lot to say about the culture of waste and spending that is hurting our country. he's next. all of this government waste -- is it a hot topic on the campaign trail or is it being ignored? who should we blame isn't president who, is in charge, or the republican who is have oversight? and crowd cheering sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering so, i'm walking down the street, sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering just you know walking, sfx: sounds of marching bandnd and crowd cheering and i found myself in the middle of this paradeeet, sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering honoring america's troops. sfx: sounds of marching bandnd and crowd cheering which is actually in tquite fitting becauseadeeet, sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering geico has been serving e military for over 75 years. aawh no, look, i know this is about the troops and not about me. right, but i don't look like that. who can i write a letter to about this? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. last season was the gulf's best tourism season in years. in florida we had more suntans... in alabama we had more beautiful blooms... in mississippi we had more good times...

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>> greta: who is behind the disgraceful waste in washington? oklahoma senator tom coburn says there are lawmakerrers running fast and loose with the rules. he writes about it in his new book, "the debt bomb." we have talked about the culture here in the senate. the poster child is that you mention is the bridge to nowhere, with the senate floor, taking issue with it. that culture is right here. i mean, the american people are having a real hard time changing that culture, it's so inbred. >> there are two cultures, there is the parochial, putting my state ahead of the best interest of the country. i understand that, that's part of the political culture. but the fact is, what we are here for is to make sure the country's okay. i would posit that oklahoma can't be healthy if the country

isn't healthy. same with alaska and every other state. the second culture is not facing up to what the real problems are and putting your career of not making difficult decisions so you protect your career, rather than making the difficult decisions to solve the problems of the country. it's okay to lose an election, if you fix the country. >> greta: you describe in the brook how members of congress come here to washington and their motive when is they step foot here are pure and noble -- those are the words you use to describe them. something happens. how do you go from pure and noble to caring about yourself and getting re-elected and not being a steward of the economy so that now we have a debt bomb? >> human nature, one. everybody likes to get a positive stroke. if you are getting lots of positive strokes, you don't want to give that up. i think it's the culture of careerism. that goes back to the abraham lincoln quote.

the people who really have character... are the people who don't care if they lose power. >> greta: where are they? because we need them. >> well, you know, there are a lot of great people in washington. and i don't mean to demean any of my colleagues. but a large portion of them have never done anything but public service. so, you know, it's part of their career path. so you want to stay on your career path. so you do what is politically expedient, rather than what is not expedient, counter to your own political best interest to fix the country. >> greta: coming up, all the politicians claim to be outramminged by this culture of waste. but who will this help? and who will this hurt in 2012? byron york will join us. with the spark cash card from capital one, olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! pizza!!!!!

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>> the blind chinese acted vist who has been at the center of a standoff between china in and the u.s. could be headed to the u.s. he escaped from house arrest in north eastern china last month and sought refuge at the u.s. embassy. he left the embassy when hillary clinton was visiting beijing, saying his family was being mistreated. he is expected to come to the u.s. and study at new york university. his family is deeply appreciative of the international effort to work tirelessly for his freedom. it is not clear if his family is with him. the chinese diplomat has reportedly left for the airport in beijing and is expected to fly to the u.s. later saturday. now back to our fox news special, already in progress. t? i mean, they say they care, but

it is it genuine? is the waste reaching a higher level than in the past? >> here i think is the biggest problem. the biggest drivers of our debt and the future are entitlement spending -- social security, medicare, those are the things that really send the deficit out of control. but it is hard to control them if you don't control the smaller stuff. if you have these gsa conferences, if you have these magicians and all of this waste. you propose to raise taxes, people say not a penny more until they stop wasting all of that money. >> reporter: will this be a part of the 2012 election coverage? will people be talking about this, the closer we get to in november? >> mitt romney has devoted this entire week to spending and the deficit and out-of-control spending. by that, he means not just the big entitlements, he means not just spending more on defense spending, he means not just

interest on the debt, he means the smaller stuff. he will talk about solyndra. you will hear him talking about that. you will hear him talking about wasteful spending on conferences and parties. this is going to be a theme, at least from the republican side of this presidential race, all the way through november. >> reporter: who benefits? do republicans benefit more from the scandals? or democrats? >> right now, i think this is a republicans issue. they don't control the white house, the executive branch. so if we hear of something in i.c.e. or gsa or we hear of another agency, the question is why hasn't barack obama stopped that? how has he let this go on? these are things that a candidate can lay at the feet of the president. i think you will see it being more of a republican issue on the presidential level, this time. >> reporter: will we see a time when americans have new confidence in their government, with respect to wasting their hard-earned tax dollars? >> i don't want to be too cynical. but the federal budget is over $3.6 trillion.

there is enormous capacity and opportunity for waste in all of that. i think that -- even if things get better, there is still going to be a lot of stuff that, if you take a good, close look at the budget, you will see it. this waste is not going to go away. even if they fix the problem at gsa. >> greta: thank you for watching our special "on the record," government gone wild. go to gretawire and tell us what you thought of the show. keep it right here, the most powerful name in news. we will see you next time. >> dana: hello, i'm dana perino with andrea tantaros, leslie marshall, greg gutfeld. this is "the five." ♪ ♪ >> dana: it looks like some people in the media might be threatening mitt romney over his faith. what we're about to show you comes in the wake of a superpac to invoke obama former pastor