item is actually about the commission on wartime contracting and that charter that they were working under it has expired and has not being renewed i'm just going to tell our viewers that this commission on wartime contracting claimed waste and fraud may have siphoned off up to sixty billion dollars from contracts in iraq and afghanistan now this watchdog could be out of business are you surprised who might be interested in it i'm actually ashamed that the commission on wartime contracting is going out of business and there's actually more to it than even the story that you just shared with your viewers first of all the state department has attempted to exempt itself from the scrutiny of the committee that you refer to the state department has claimed that it was not part of wartime contracting that it was involved in diplomacy. and therefore not controlled by that organization and they didn't want them to peek into what the state department was doing even worse the committee as it's dissolved has sealed all of its records and no one will be allowed to see any of the results of its wo

on these contracts. after an extensive bipartisan investigation, the commission on wartime contract estimated that as much as $60 billion may have been lost to waste and fraud due to a lack of effective competition, oversight, and enforcement of contingency contract thing. although the scope of this problem is daunting, is not new to this committee. under chairman henry waxman's leadership, the committee examined problems in the contract for logistical support. the contract with black water usa for security sources and the state department's billion dollar contract to build a united states embassy in baghdad. private security providers were involved in a massive racket to send u.s. taxpayer dollars into the hands of warlords in the taliban. our committee's oversight effort has resulted in significant changes. in iraq, the state department has dramatically increased its management of private security contractors and the use has plummeted. in afghanistan, general petraeus responded to the attorney general also investigation by issuing new contract and guidelines. in spite of these were the investigations, m

business are you surprised who might be interested in it i'm actually ashamed that the commission on wartime contracting is going out of business and there's actually more to it than even the story that you just shared with your viewers first of all the state department has attempted to exempt itself from the scrutiny of the committee but you refer to the state department has claimed that it was not part of wartime contracting that it was involved in diplomacy. and therefore not controlled by that organization and they didn't want them to peek into what the state department was doing even worse the committee as it's dissolved has sealed all of its records and no one will be allowed to see any of the results of its work what's already been published until two thousand and thirty one so the things that the committee on wartime contracting uncover of the incredible amounts of waste fraud and mismanagement that they documented in the limited public documents that they do produce all of that is being swept away i don't know how old i'm going to be in two thousand and thirty one i'm going to be a lot older th

. >> i want to thank all the members of the panel who served on the commission on wartime contractingespecially my good friend and former colleague, christopher shays. just yesterday the bill we worked on went into effect for the victims compensation fund for the 9/11 workers. i appreciate your tremendous leadership. thank you for your service in so many areas. i compliment you on this report, and you make a number of recommendations which i think are important. so many reports come back to us and they never say what you should do, but you are clear in your recommendations to increase competition. and in your written testimony you decry the fact that even after eight years in iraq, there are still multi-billion dollars contracts that have never been effectively competed. and you state that you believe there is 30-$60 billion loss in contract waste, fraud, and abuse. so it seems like some of these contractors are being treated like they are too big to fail. i financial service committee, we passed legislation to end too big to fail. we can't afford it in this country. we cannot afford

frankly i would say that with a commission on wartime contract in-betweens $30 billion, and $60 billion and $1 billion more in wasted weapons programs that never make it into war fighters handed is hard to justify targeting military families when it seems to me there are other places to be cut. you stated your opinion eloquently on both of these things. if you have other comments i am pleased to hear them but i wanted to add my voice to others who feel we are not moving fast enough on ending of the war. >> i respect your concerns and recognize frustration having been through these wars and the losses we have incurred. we are in the process of ending the war in iraq by the end of this year. we will have withdrawn all of our combat forces from iraq. that is going to happen. with afghanistan i am fully confident the president of the united states is committed to ensuring we transition our combat forces out of there by 2014. we just have to do this right. what i don't want to happen and we need to be concerned about is if we do this in the wrong way, if we do it so fast that afghanistan fal

eastern on c-span3, members of the commission on wartime contracting testify on the amount of money lost and abuse. all of these events tonight on the c-span tv networks. >> before the presidential election of 1916, charles evans hughes was a lawyer and professor, two-term governor of new york and though he lost his bid for the presidency, his impact on political history remained, serving as the post-war secretary of state and ultimately chief justice of the u.s. one of the 14 men featured in the weekly series "the contenders." friday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. for a preview about hughes, watch a number of videos about him and our special web site about the series crsh span.org/ the contenders. >> congress is back in session and the house passed a spending bill that will keep the government funded through mid-november. the senate continues on a bill dealing with china's currency. watch live coverage on c-span and the senate on c-span 2 and use our comprehensive resource on congress to get more information about your elected officials. the c-span's congressional chronicle and every house and s

meantime, we're going to take to lead to the commission on wartime contract in in iraq and afghanistan. they released their final report in late august, saying an estimated $31 billion had been lost due to waste, fraud, and abuse. the hearing has been underway for about an hour, so this is live here on c-span. >> -- only to that particular agency. the special inspector general would have jurisdiction over the range of agencies that relate to contingencies, all three of them. further, there would be the opportunity, because of the oversight, to ensure that the whole range of issues is fully vested. one of the questions i hope the committee continues to explore is, what in the world is wrong over the department of defense? this is page 162, and this has to do with the defense contracting audit agency, which seems aptly named. but it says -- you mentioned this. the current unaudited backlog stands at $550 billion, having risen sharply from four hundred $6 billion in only nine months. current staffing levels, it is reported that the backlog will continue to go virtually unchecked and will

with the commission on wartime contracting signing between $30 billion and $60 billion and wasted weapons programs that need it -- that never make it into fighters'there are other pe cut. you stated your numbers. i am pleased to hear them. i wanted to add my voice to others. >> i recognize the frustrations. i have been through these wa rs. we are in the proces of ending q.e war in ira with afghanistan, i am confident that the president is committed to ensuring that we transition. we just have to do this right. what i do not want to have them is if we do this in the wrong way are so fast that if it becomes a safe haven for the taliban or al qaeda and the other subjects, then the world will look at us and say how can you let that happen. that is what i'm trying to prevent. >> i would like to answer that one for the record. >> thank you. congratulations on your appearance in new roles. i want to thank you for your comments about irresponsibly -- responsibly disengaging. we had many sons and daughters to have served there. i want t hehem to serve. i want to congratulate you on your announceme

on the ground that's not sustainable we'll look at the development strategy which is also not sustainable foreign contractors. excessive egregious war profiteering as illuminated recently by the wartime contracting commission senate foreign relations committee and the look at our diplomacy strategy in terms of the failed reconciliation peace talks recently you know the u.s. was extending a hand while having a hand behind its back that hand behind its back was killing taliban as was expecting taliban to come to the table so i think across the board terms of success and sustainability of the strategies it's. failed on all three accounts so let's wind this but let's look back to the beginning of this just a few days before nine eleven the taliban offered to give up some of bin laden did it continued to do so after that campaign started why do you think the u.s. didn't take them up on that offer. well it's interesting they have not taken the taleban up on several offers there are several recent case studies where in taliban leaders went to the negotiation table and were killed on the way i mean the real problem with killing the top taliban brass if you will is that they were willing to negotiate now that you'r

with the commission on wartime and a a a a hanna hijacking fine contracting signing between $30 billion $60 billion and indeed billion of it arriving in an billion lent wasted weapons programs that need it -- that never make it into fighters' hands, it seems to me again that there are other places to be cut. it is hard to justify targeting military families. there are other places to be cut. you stated your numbers. i am pleased to hear them. i wanted to add my voice to others. through ahead>> i recognize the frustrations. has not been through these wars and losses that we have incurred. i have been through these wars. we are in the proces of ending the war in iraq. with afghanistan, i am confident that the president is committed to ensuring that we transition. we just have to do this right. what i do not want to have them -- happen is if we do this in the wrong way are so fast that if it becomes a safe haven for the taliban or al qaeda and the other subjects, then the world will look at us and say how can you let that happen. that is what i'm trying to prevent. >> i would like to answe