dodaro. i do want to thank him so much for the work he and his team do on behalf of the american people in helping us figure out ways to be more efficient and find the waste, fraud, and abuse. i appreciate your comments just now. since coming to congress i fought for transparency and accountability in federal spending. with trillions of dollars of covid aid spent over a short period of time it's imperative we closely watch where and how that money was spent. i think you have given us more ideas. it's likely something we are going to have to track for a long time. but, mr. horowitz, i have questions for you. can you speak to the need for the pandemic response accountability committee, it's importance? mr. horowitz: thank you, congresswoman. i think it was critical for congress to set up the prac when the cares act was passed. at the time we were asked to oversee $2 trillion, it's now $5 trillion of pandemic oversight. what it did was, it brought the inspector general community together to coor

host: gene dodaro is our guest. he is the u.s. comptroller general and head of the government accountability office. we are talking about coronavirus spending and oversight of those dollars. our next caller is from ohio. caller: all of these homeowners who have these large homes, i fear very much what will happen is what happened in 1929. who is the mystical bank we owe this money to? who do we owe this money to? who is doing all of this ridiculous accounting? who are we in debt to? host: gene dodaro, go ahead. guest: did you want to say something? host: i'm curious about what he had to say, the overall spending as you pointed out, $4.5 trillion over 6 bills. host: that was the largest rescue package in american history. we had a large package during the great recession and the housing downturn that led to the type of problems the color is referring to that -- caller is referring to that could lead to the same problem now. we were involved in auditing that program at that time as well we are keeping an eye on the housing market. y

later, gene dodaro, u.s.omptroller general discusses the government's examination of coronavirus spending. fit, the president delivers the state of the union address tomorrow night and our coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, on demand at c-span.org or watch free with c-span now. as the president prepares to deliver the state of t union address tuesday night, we are taking a look at key moments from previous addresses. here is gerald ford from 1975 and ronald reagan from 1986. [video clip] >> i must say to you that the state of the union is not good. it millions of americans are out of work. prices are two high-end sales are too slow. this year's federal deficit will be $30 billion. next year's probably $35 billion. the national debt will rise to over $500 billion. our productivity is not growing fast enough. we depend on others for essential energy. some question their government's ability to make hard decisions and to make hard decisions and stick with them. they expect washington politics as usu

dodaro: right. mr. biggs: ok. what's the total amount that you estimate that was wasted in any of those programs, go ahead, mr. horowitz? >> we're going to leave it here to honor our more than 40-year commitment to live coverage of congress. you can go to this hearing on c-span.org our or free mobile video app. take you live now here on c-span. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2023] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by chaplain kibben. crib: would you pray with -- chaplain kibben: would you pray with me. intercede in our lives, o lord, even as we offer prayers of intercession for others. how we offer our petitions and thanksgiving for our leaders and all who are in authority with our voices we also pray for those who have no voice. for those who have no hope. and for those who don't know how or what to pray in the moments they a

later, gene dodaro joins the conversation. washington journal starts now. ♪ host: good morning on this monday, february 6, the o

dodaro and mr. horowitz. on monday the pandemic response accountability led by you released a fraud alert fraudsters used nearly 70,000 questionable social security numbers to obtain as much as 5.4 billion from spa's, paycheck protection programs is that correct? >> that's correct. >> the fraud could have been stopped if the federal government invested in appropriate data analytics capacity and focused on sharing the data across agencies silos into various levels of government, is that fair? >> would you agree with that mr? >> absolutely. >> so, based on previous conversations we've had about improper payments and trying to curb that, which this committee has been talking about for a long time has been a high risk category for a long time as well, after these i introduced stop fraud act that in fact would by statute do just that. it would have used the data analytics and would have propagated the data analytics information sharing across federal agencies. a desirable goal that could very well have curved or p

dodaro i know you've talked a lot this morning and probably answered this question in multiple ways but i want to be very specific. can you tell us how many convictions and guilty pleas have come from federal charges regarding fraud with of these covid relief programs? >> yes. so far according to the department of justice system, there been over a thousand people who either pled guilty or have been convicted. there's another 600 people whose charges are pending. there is hundreds of investigations underway now and that will be done. of the thousand people -- >> thank you. i want to clarify so we are talking less than 2,000 people and we are talking about millions of americans whose lives were impacted by these programs. 93,000 new mexicans and less than 3,000 cases of fraud and abuse. we need to hold those who committed crimes accountable and that is what we are going to do on this committee through the oversight of our federal programs who are tasked with that role and law enforcement. but our job is to make sure the american people are represented and we keep the government accountabl

dodaro, can you tell me how much covid cash went to crt? >> crt?ulum, used to teach children that somehow, their white skin is not equal to black skin, and other things in education. >> no, i do not know that. but i do know that there is provisions that the federal funds generally are not supposed to be used for curriculum. that is a state -- >> mystery to darrow ask, to tell you, in illinois, they received 5.1 billion at an elementary school there, and they used it for equity and diversity. >> 5.1 billion dollars to an elementary school? did they win the lotto? >> take the wheel. >> do expect anything else from this ignorant fool? that is what marjorie taylor greene's. and now, she's on committees, we get to see her ignorance on display every single time she opens her mouth in committees. we thought it was bad enough when she spoke on the house floor. we thought it was bad before we should go to her rallies, or when she'd appear on extremist shows like -- and fox news, or wherever else she goes to. to blow smoke. now, she's on congressional commit