general services administration's... spending habits...///.the... g-s-a... is...posed to save money... by... maintaining office space... and supplies... for... government agencies...///. but... this... past image... shows ...a.. top... g-s-a... manager... in vegas... on the... taxpayers' dime...///. and... these pictures ...from the... resort in... opryland near nashville.../ show ... another ...g-s-a conference ... underway...///. "we just can't take it anymore. let us defend the employees who are good and hard workers at the general services administration but not to defend this kind of garbage that's a waste of taxpayer money and that makes all of us in the public not have any confidence at all that the good workers at gsa can do their job." job." the g-s-a ...hired... a... new administrator ... after the vegas scandal.../ who... promised the take control ... of... wasteful spending. doctors ... fight... for their right... to... talk to patients... about guns. guns.florida... doctors ...filed suit... to... overturn... a... 1--year old... law.../ banning... doct

i am the chief administrative services officer of the general services administration. in that capacity i coordinate internal management and support services to promote efficiency twn agency, covering a wide variety of issues, including travel and conferences. as you were aware our acting administrate member was not able to appear. we reached out to request this hearing be scheduled at a mutually convenient date so that he could personally appear, but informed that the chee was electing to proceed with today's hearing with the awareness that he was unavailable. he looks forward to continuing to work with the committee to improve the efficiency of gsa and refocus the agency on the core mission, of streamlining the administrative work of the government to save money for the american taxpayer. given that the genesis of this hearing was the acting administrator's recent referral to the inspector general of a 2010 awards ceremony for the federal acquisition service. i have come here today to outline the steps we have taken to prevent waste from happening again. as of april of

general services administration's... extravagantspending habits...///.the... g-s-a... is...y... maintaining office space... and supplies... for... government agencies...///. but... this... past imaae... shows ...a.. top... g-s-a... manager... in vegas... on the... taxpayers' dime...///. and... these pictures ...from the... resort in... opryland near nashville.../ show ... another ...g-s-a conference ... underway...///. "we just can't take it anymore. let us defend the hard workers at tte general services administration but not to defend this kind of garbage that's a waste of taxpayer money and that makes all of us in the public not have any confidence at all that the good workers at gsa can do their job." job." the g-s-a ...hired... a... new administrator ... after the vegas scandal.../ who... promised the take control ... of... wasteful spending. 2000---people... are evacuated... from the ...san antonio... airport... following... a... bomb threat...//. it... happened ... today..../ you... can see... people, .../ waiting... for... bomb-sniffing dogs... to... check things out

. >>> today, the general services administration was slammed with tough questions.he house panel is repeatedly slammed by the spending agency. the gsa is holding another convention right now. >> reporter: first, there was a las vegas conference and this now infamous photo. the general services administration spent more than $800,000 of taxpayer money on the vegas gathering in 2010. now, lawmakers and the inspector general are looking into more spinning sprees. >> the taxpayer wants to know why. >> reporter: the agency is under investigation for spending more than $260,000 on a one-day conference in arlington, virginia. $20,000 was spent on drum sticks for attendees. >> and there are serious allegations of excessive spending and activities of dubious merit. >> reporter: lawmakers are asking questions about as many as 77 conditions. after the las vegas scandal, a handful of gsa employees were let go and the administrator resigned. >> we had requested, of course, mr. tangerlini, and as you said, he had the family issue. we invited the deputy chief administrator and. >>

the general services administration employee. he was a perfect candidate. for $86,000 a year, he was on the payroll, not in an office in honolulu but from his home as a virtual employee of the kansas city office. it's showing how working from home can make employees happy, save on office space. and for this employee, what better example than to hire a guy in hawaii. >> that was one of the directors showing that she wanted to embrace telework. >> you are kidding me. >> i am not kidding you. >> reporter: we are hiring someone in hawaii to work in kansas city. >> that is correct. >> reporter: and confirmed by the person in charge of all other teleworkers here. the regional administrator said that mr. x with was perfect for the job, travel costs included. >> when factors all those in, it was determined he was the best candidate even in light of the cost that would be incurred. i don't think he comes to kansas city very often. and again that is a reflection of the technology we have available to us. >> reporter: we found that he may not come to kansas city a lot

you oversaw a hearing regarding the general services administration and another video you have seen surfacedvirginia in 20 thereto 10 and showed members of the general services administration and its federal acquisition service handed out the whackers and noise makers and chanting to ryths. it was an absurd looking thing and cost taxpayers a lot of money. one of 77 conferences that have now surfaced since the las vegas, fiasco. is this agency in need of an overhall. >> absolutely. since i became chair we head the first hearing in the empty federal building, two blocks away from the white house and empty for 15 years and starting an investigation of gsa. it is the biggest property owner in the world. and it holds all of the properties and buildings and trust for the american people. we knew that the administrative expenses soared 300 percent and tried to find out where. and came with the inspector general and other information gathered to see the conferences that were wasting millions of taxpayer dollars and the latest one, those were drum sticks. i had a set of them handed to me they cost th

was $30 million -- focus was $30 million in previously unreported bonus money at the general services administrationgsa chief administrative services officer cynthia he iser testified before a health committee. committee members from both parties said before our report they'd only known about $10 million in bonus money. >> we have $44 million in bonuses absolutely stunning amount. >> what's the percentage of the employees at gsa who received bonuses? >> i will have to have someone get back to you with that information. it's not part of my responsibilities. >> she was on the hill yesterday in place of gsa acting administrator dan tangor lee knee. he had a family matter he had to attend that. >>> frederick county homeowners may be getting an early christmas present. commissioners will vote today whether to return a budget surplus to county residents. frederick county is $6.7 million in the black. the average rebate check would be about $100. board president blaine young hopes that residents will spends that money to stimulate the local economy. >>> we're turning our attention now to the olympics. wher

general services administration's... spending habits...///.the... g-s-a...overnment agencies...///. but... this... past image... shows ...a.. top... g-s-a... manager... in vegas... on the... taxpayers' dime...///. now...// there's... another ...g-s-a conference ... underway...///. from the... resort... in... opryland... near nashville.../ "we just can't take it anymore. let us defend the employees who are good and haad workers at the general services administration but not to defend this kind of garbage that's a waste of taxpayer money and that makes all of us in the public not have any confidence at all that the good workers at gsa can do their job." job." the g-s-a ...hired... a... new administrator ... afterrthe vegas scandal.../ who... promised the take control ... of... wasteful spending..../ apparently... he... ámissedá... opry--land...// join... our waste watch. if... you see crazy stupid government waste.. like this..// call... our hotline.. 410-662-1456. or... go to fox- baltimore dot com. the... tea party.../...the group... wanting... to keep... go

i am the chief administrative services officer of the general services administration. in that capacity i coordinate internal management and sport services to promote efficiency twn agency, covering a wide variety of issues, including travel and conferences. as you were aware our acting administrate member was not able to appear. we reached out to request this hearing be scheduled at a mutually convenient date so that he could personally appear, but informed that the chee was electing to proceed with today's hearing with the awareness that he was unavailable. he looks forward to

about an hour from now part two of a hearing on capitol hill looking into abuses of the general services administration. coming up at 5:15 the focus of today's hearing a one-day gsa awards ceremony that cost $.25 million. >>> sal is coming back. you know all about our commute. everything okay? >> yeah. things are okay to start, dave and pam. right now we are doing pretty well, so far. let's go out and take a look at what we have on the morning commute on 80 westbound coming out to the mccarthur maze. it looks good even in richmond. this morning we are looking at the toll plaza westbound and this traffic continues to look very nice on the way into san francisco. livermore, castro valley, 680 danville down to san ramon that is a nice start to the commute if you are driving on the san mateo bridge we are off to a decent start. the fog is not really super low so you can actually see pretty well where you are driving. 5:07 let's go to steve. >>> thank you, sal. that is correct. it has lifted a little bit. yesterday it was down on the deck. inland temps will still be warm to hot. coast bay and north bay sout

. >> and general services administration is probed for sphen conferences and award ceremony. the chairman of the house committee joins us on america's news head quarters. we'll see you soon. thos hot temps are causing a hole in america's wallets. it could get worse. 140 coal power generators are expected to close by the year. one culprit is government regulations . >> oh, my god. the government is killing the coal industry. and all this means in the end the of day my electric bill is going up. oil and coal. they are affordable forms of energy. why are we killing them. they did it with ethanol and renewable credits. think it through before you cut us off at the knees. >> wayne, we are seeing a move to natural gas it is cheaper, do you think that is part of the reason or electric bills will go up no matter what? >> all of the coal powered facility will go to natural gas. it is cheaper and we have an abundance of it sooner or later it is coming to that or just a matter of time. >> julian, you knowledge electricity bills will go up this year? >> it dependotz climate. wayne is rig

i am the chief administrative services officer of the general services administration. in that capacity i coordinate internal management and support services to promote efficiency twn agency, covering a wide variety of issues, including travel and conferences. as you were aware our acting administrate member was not able to appear. we reached out to request this hearing be scheduled at a mutually convenient date so that he could personally appear, but informed that the chee was electing to proceed with today's hearing with the awareness that he was unavailable. he looks forward to continuing to work with the committee to improve the efficiency of gsa and refocus the agency on the core mission, of streamlining the administrative work of the government to save money for the american taxpayer. given that the genesis of this hearing was the acting administrator's recent referral to the inspector general of a 2010 awards ceremony for the federal acquisition service. i have come here today to outline the steps we have taken to prevent waste from happening again. as of april of

>> there is no such travel associated with anything that the general services administration is involved in. that may be some other third party. >> so there is no expense to the federal government for the general jackson lee steamboat that is having a party tonight. >> that is correct to the best of my knowledge. >> we look forward to looking into that further. >> i apologize for my delay. i had a judiciary hearing. good to have you all with us by the way. mr. miller who brought your strike that. who brought this conference to your attention? >> acting administrator brought it to my personal attention. there was a -- we did receive a hot line complaint in may of this year it was an anonymous complaint of about five single-spaced pages with about four lines of general information about this conference. >> were you familiar with it prior to havin seen the notice? >> no, i was not. >> it appears, and i hope i'm not being duplicative. but it seemed the conference took place in two cities. a reception th costed over $7,000 at the tea bridge marriott. the reception, i'm furthermore told was co

> a 9 wants you to know investigation about $30 million in unreported bonuses hat the general services administration for investigations and accountability. >> as investigative reporter russ tells us, they didn't have many answers for capitol hill. >> reporter: the official who did testify said she was not an expert in bonuses and couldn't answer the questions prompted by our investigation. >> do you know anything about the total number of bonus dollars that were expended? >> unfortunately i do not. >> reporter: cynthia metzler, the chief administrative services officer said the acting director couldn't be there because he's on a previously planned family matter. committee chairman republican congressman john mica focused on the 9 wants to know investigation. he said until our report, the committee had only known about $10 million in bonuses. >> so we have $44 million in bonuses, absolutely stunning amount. >> what's the percentage of the employees at gsa that receive bonuses? >> i have to have to have -- i will have to have somebody get back to you with that information since it's not part of my res

the $30 million unreported bonuses we uncovered at the general services administration sparked demands investigations and for some accountability. >> but as russ tells us, if g.s.a. didn't send anyone to congress who could explain how their bonus system worked, or the lack of transparency. >> reporter: the official who did testify said she's not an expert in bonuses, and she couldn't respond to the increasing wave of questions prompted by our investigation. >> ms. metzler, do you know anything about the total number of bonuses, dollars that were expended? >> chairman, unfortunately, i do not. >> reporter: cynthia mezler, g.s.a.'s chief administrative services officer said the acting commissioner couldn't be there to answer questions because he is on a previously planned family matter. >> it's absolutely outrageous. >> reporter: the committee chairman and others repeatedly focused on the 9 wants to know investigation that uncovered $30 million in unreported g.s.a. bonuses. mikah said until our report, the committee had only known about $10 million in bonuses. >> so, we have 44 million d

want to know and apparently so do several lawmakers about the exorbitant spending at the general services administratione big topic today at the hearing, about $30 million worth of unreported bonuses that our russ ptacek first reported here last night on 9news. he joins us now with the fallout as it came tumbling down on the hill today. >> emotions on capitol hill, anger, shock, exasperation and the hearing didn't get off to a good start when the man in charge of gsa was a no sh

general services administration showing paychecks bigger than the vice-president's and the chief justice's of the supreme court. new revelations into the agency responsible for government real estate and supposedly keeping costs down. >> reporter: beside me, you're seeing the 13,000 gsa payroll records we obtained with the freedom of information act. we spent more than a week sorting through them all. the gsa top ten shows everyone making more than $200,000 a year. heavily weighed by bow now'ses and unused leave pay. for this electrician supervisor earning $200 thousand, most of it from over time. ♪ ♪ >> the president of the united states makes $400,000 a year. and that's one of few government paychecks higher than what our analysis found at gsa. >> they absolutely should be explaining. >> reporter: congressman jeff denham, wants explanations for gsa's top 10, identified by our investigation, all making more than denham. although the president did earn more, six gsa workers got checks bigger than the vice- president, even more than the chief justice of the supreme court. sharing in the mil

focusing on some of the problems we had and waste and abuse of taxpayer funds and the general services administrationparticularly alarming because the general services administration is the chief procurement agency for the federal government. also responsible for maintaining many public assets, trustees of public assets. when you have abuses in an agency with that mission you have some serious problems. we'll address them today. first of all, i think everyone was appalled and we appreciate the work of the inspector general who is with us today, but they were appalled when we saw $800 million las vegas conference that unfortunately featured clowns and mind readers and the infamous image that all of us recall of one of the administrators in a hot tub thumbing his nose at both congress and the american taxpayer. we're hopeful this is a limited occurrence and that was not indicative of the behavior, the actions or the management of the agency. from the very beginning i asked mr. denim, the chair of the economic development public buildings and emergency management subcommittee that oversees gsa. from our

a house panel will hold a hearing today on mismanagement and wasteful spending by the general services administration. several the gsa leaders resigned or were fired after the agency spent $800,000 on a lavish conference in las vegas. >> the house approved a bill that calls for federal employees who were tax delinquents to be fired. the legislation now have to this senate. it's estimated nearly 100,000 federal employees are delinquent on their federal taxes. >> the u.s. postal service is preparing for its. first ever its -- for its first ever default of payment due to the treasury. $5.5 billion is due today. another $5.6 billion is due in september. the postal service estimates it is losing $25 million each today. >> some good news for travelers as the back-to-school season will bring a drop in air fares. >> ticket prices should drop between 10% and 20% for flights departing on or after august 21. that should be a big relief for passengers since overall ticket prices have risen over the past two years. >> now to the aftermath of the deadly storm in june. president obama has declared d.c. a disaster a

mismanagement and wasteful by the general services administration. several gs-8 leaders resigned or after the agency spent $800,000 on a lavish in las vegas. leaders. congress is looking into it. >> 620 minutes people were by a power outage in india. 3 power grids collapsed yesterday. there is a ripple of uncertainty vulnerable the united is.es >> can something like that here? >> the grid is divided in the nation, so it spread. >> a big domestic fare is a cyber attacks on the prepare the an exerciseeld recently. a half-hourtill ahead. will check in with john fatalez on the scene of a hit-and-run in herndon. police still trying to determine driver is also responsible for crashing into a if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. if you've got a business, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. my father's hands didn't build this company. my handsha didn't build this company. through hard work and a little bit of luck, we built this business. why are you demonizing us for it? it's time we had somebody who believes in us

doug mckelway shows us the latest videotape embarrassment for the beleaguered general services administration give a round of applause for the group of people here who created a harmonic existence inside your organization. >> reporter: congressional investigators today ridiculed the november 2010 gsa conference and the costs. $200,000 for the one-day event. $34,000 for the venue. $220 for the drumsticks and $10,000 for the team building facilitators. >> once you have harmony, the ripple-out effect to your clients and to your customers is phenomenal. >> freedom of information request from fox news revealed that more than 3700 attendees at the conference received cash awards. averaging $1,000 apiece. that just months before an administration memorandum directed the agencies to manage awards in a manner cost effective for agencies. successfully motivate strong performance. >> we found out there were 77 more conferences around the nation. >> one of the conferences was ironically underway in nashville at the same moment the committee members were grilling a gsa administrator about it. >> is there

the general services administration is apparently too busy throwing parties to take note of the conditiongs it's charged with managing. managing.we are talking about the same federal agency that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for an over-the-top taxpayer-paid party in las vegas, millions for executive bonuses and thousands more for private cooking lessons.the g-s-a's primary mission is to document the condition of almost 400-thousand buildings and keep track of how the space is used. used.the government accountability office reviewed the g-s-a's database earlier this year, and found a lot of problems.......including some buildings with collapsed roofs... and a warehouse with radioactive contamination--- both listed in "excellent" condition. to read more about this story, turn to our media partner the washington guardian. go to fox- baltimore dot com... and click on "washington guardian" in the hot topics section at the top of the screen. it's our duty to hold elected officials accountable.you can do that by joining our fox45 waste watch.if you have a story about government waste..

the general services administration spent more than $800,000 of taxpayer money on the vegas gathering2010. now lawmakers and the inspector general are looking into more spending sprees. >> i think the question the taxpayer wants answered is why? >> reporter: the agency surgeon investigation for spending more than $260,000 on a one-day conference in arlington, virginia. $20,000 was spent on drumsticks for attendees. >> there are serious allegations of excessive spending and activities of dubious merit. >> reporter: lawmakers are asking questions about as many as 77 conferences. after the las vegas scandal a handful of gsa employees were let go and the administrator resigned. >> we had requested, of course, mr. tangherlini and he as you said had a family obligation. we requested the deputy administrator. we'd invited the chief of staff. he's not coming. >> reporter: the chief administrative officer did attend today. >> we have canceled 37 previously scheduled conferences. these are a few of the many reforms the acting administrator has taken. >> reporter: while questions are asked on ca

the government's general services administration under fire earlier this year for a lavish conferencen las vegas. tonight, under scrutiny again. congress is looking into their virtual employees, people mo work at home for a cost saving measure. one area of concern is how much taxpayers are spending on employee travel costs. a cnn investigation found that one of the employees is signed to the office but he works in hawaii. yes, hawaii 367 here is drew griffin out front. >> reporter: if you could work any where in the world, why wouldn't you work from hawaii? soft breezes, beautiful beaches and the warm spirit of aloha that people in places like kansas city can only dream of. but for one federal employee, it's a dream come true. we will call him mr. x because he hasn't done anything wrong. he is part of a system that has come under fire. the general server i services s employee. he was a perfect candidate. for $86,000 a year, he was on the payroll, not in an office in honolulu but from his home as a virtual employee of the kansas city office. it's showing how working from home can make

we show you another embarrassing tape from the beleaguered general services administration.,000 of your tax money for a single day. the latest element of the gsa spending scandal. chick-fil-a customers spending big money today to show their support for the restaurant which has been envelopeed over the furor over the owner's position supporting traditional marriage. "special report" stants at 6:00 eastern from l.a. we send it back to new york now and "the five." ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> greg: catsteins? what is this -- cat stevens? is this a college dorm from 1984? i hate cat stevens. we have been playing a game called chase the chicken. bad things are happening we're obsessing over a fast food joint that serves bird. why? scary stuff like the economy, war and murder. chicago mayor rahm emanuel who said chick-fil-a didn't represent chicago values. what a relief! for the chain. that is. given what pose values are. according to nbc chicago, chi-town is unbeatable when it comes to violence. based on projected murder total this year, chicago has 20 murders for 100,000 people. double moscow, th

the general services administration virtual employees.n kansas city was looking for a specialist, he was a perfect candidate. for $86,000 a year, he was on the federal payroll. living and working, not even at the gsa's office in honolulu but from his home as a virtual employee of the kansas city office. it's part of the gsa initiative to show how flexible the work schedules and working from home can make workers happy, save office space and save commuter pollution. and for this employee, what better example than to hire a guy in hawaii. >> that was one of the directors wanding to show that she really embraced telework and that it could be done. >> you are kidding me. >> i'm not kidding you. >> we're going to set an example by hiring somebody in hawaii to work in kansas city? >> that's correct. >> and confirmed by the person in charge of all the other teleworkers here. the regional administrator said that mr. x with was perfect for the job, travel costs included. >> when factoring all of those in, it was determined that he was the best can

general service administration. showing some paychecks that are higher than the vice president's and the chief justice of the supreme court. >> investigative reporter exposes new revelations about the agency responsible for government real estate and supposedly for minimizing costs. >> beside me, you're seeing the 13,000 gsa payroll records we obtained with the freedom of information act. the gsa top ten shows everyone making more than $200,000 a year. heavily weighed by bonuses and unused leave pay, or like this electrician supervisor at number seven, earning over $200,000, most of it from overtime. >> the president of the united states makes $400,000 a year, and that's one of few government paychecks higher than what our analysis found at gsa. gh they absolutely should be explaning. >> chair of the gsa oversight subcommittee wants explanations. identified by our investigation, all making more than denim. although the president did earn more. bigger than the president. even more than the chief justice of the suprem

lawmakers focused on the general services administration, blowing your tax dollars on lavish conferences. the latest? a quarter of a million dollar event in washington with 20,000 bucks just spent on drumsticks. >> hey, hey. hey, hey. patti ann: and if that's not enough, a new report is out finding that these guys handed out some 30 million bucks in unreported bonuses. doug mckelway is live from washington. good morning, doug. please tell us about this $30 million in bonuses. >> reporter: good morning patti ann. after fox news reported on $3.6 million in bonuses hand out to thousands of gsa employees who attended the 2010 conference in crystal city, virginia, where much of the day was spent in team building exercises like that drumming session. >> listen to each other. keeping integrity, accountability, to that base beat. >> reporter: after that, a local washington tv stations submitted another foia request which revealed another $30 million in bonuses for fiscal year 2011. house infrastructure subcommittee chairman jeff denham, who will run the hearing commencing right about now, told f

homeland security department employee caitlin duringovich e-mailed robert peck of the general services administration saying, "our federal protected service commanderrer in portland say they are standing down and following gsa's request to only intervene if there is a threat to public safety." peck responds, "yes, that is our position. it's been vetted with our administrator. we have communicated with the white house, which has afforded us the discretion to fashion our approach to occupy issues." the white house did not return our request for comment. but gsa tells fox, "fps and local law enforcement had the best understanding of the situation on the ground. and determined the necessary action." former wisconsin governor and senate candidate tommy thompson takes the fitness seriously and is happy to prove it. the 70-year-old claims he does 100 push-ups a day. so the "milwaukee journal sentinel" put him up to the test. at a recent meeting with the editorial board, thompson managed 50 push-ups in legislation thalessthan a minut. president obama and romney will have more competition in november. rosanne

more headaches for the general services administration. the gsa. been suspended for violating the hatch act. which restrict political activities of federal employees. while at work, employee invited 23 people to obama fundraiser, passed out campaign material and sent work account e-mail supporting the president's re-election. finally, governor's day turned out to be anything but that for illinois democrat pat quinn. first, quinn was praising president obama when he goofed in what the "chicago sun times" called the mother of all gaffes. saying loudly, obama, he's gone, he's dead. quinn realized his mistakes moments later and corrected him. bin laden. i goofed that one up. late they're day, the governor short speech at the state fair was drowned out by labor protesters who shouted "liar" and booed. unions are upset over quinn's evidents to reform public employee -- efforts to reform public employee pensions. ♪ ♪ >> bret: our top story at the bottom of the hour. g.o.p. vice presidential candidate paul ryan says republicans will create half a million j

. >>> a fiery hearing now on capitol hill over lavish spending at the general services administration. congressional investigators ridiculed a november 2010gsa conference and its cost. $200,000 the one-day event, $4,000 for the venue. $10 how to the team building facilitator. frustrating. >> also frustrating i'm sure identify lot of people on the road in this video. check this out. a man driving a smart car leads list on a high-speed chase through houston, texas. officers say the suspect was going 92 miles per hour. he apparently took off when they tried to approach him. the chase apparently ended up in the suspect's driveway. he is being charged with his third dui and felony evading arrest. and he was doing all that in the little smart car. >> i know. >> which is about this big. >> so weird to see them chasing a little smart car. >> those things can probably take corners pretty quickly. >> and they can probably hide. >> the other question is why he went to his house. >> yes, very bizarre. >>> long lines outside chick- fil-a restaurants but not just for the food. >> customers making a

>> huge bonuses exposed by 9 wants to know at the general service administration and now congress wantshat we found. our russ ptacek broke the story last night. we're talking about $30 million in unreported bonuses and there was strong reaction at a congressional probe sparked by all this. >> there was shock, anger, exasperation and the hearing didn't start out well at all because the man in charge of gsa was a no-show. the officials at gsa couldn't or wouldn't answer the committee's bonus questions. >> do you know anything about the total number of bonuses,

inspector general office received a tip in the wake of the general service administration las vegas scandal. the v.a. said the alleged misconduct is unacceptable. joe the plumber, aka samuel worzelbacher says the solution to securing the border is putting up a fence and shooting illegal immigrants crossing in to america. the congressional candidate from ohio told a crowd in arizona, for years i said put a damn fence on the border going to mexico and start shooting. he repeated his comments the next day. we reached out to his campaign for clarification. but did not hear back. finally vice presidential biden was firing up supporters in the swing state of virginia today. when it seems he may have forgot where he was. here are his closing remarks. >> with you and i mean this, with you we can win north carolina again. and if we do, we win the election. if we win you. >> bret: to be fair, vice president was in danville, which is on the border with north carolina. but it is still danville, virginia. ♪ snow ♪ >> bret: our top story at the bottom of the hour, republican vice presidential candidate p

how the federal government's general services administration is spending your tax dollars on its employeesom home full time. now, a lot of companies do this. they say it saves commute time, office space and hassle. maybe people aren't as productive, maybe they are. some of these government workers, actually quite a few of them, don't even live in the city or state where the office is located. the costs are adding up. here's an example of one gsa virtual employee we told you about last week. >> reporter: we'll call him mr. x because he hasn't personally done anything wrong. in kansas city, when the gsa was looking for a new business development specialist, mr. x, in hawaii, emerged as the perfect candidate. for $86,000 a year, he was on the federal payroll, living and working not even at the gsa's office right in downtown honolulu but from his home as a virtual employee of the kansas city office. >> now, mr. x has had to make 13 trips since he was hired which has cost taxpayers nearly $33,000. just in travel. now, remember, this is the agency whose mission is to monitor how much other gover

the general services administration. officials admit they are hanging out in opry land nashville this week just as lawmakers reveal the agency gave out $44 million in bonuses last year. >> gsa has 1% of the employees of the federal government. and they received 10% of the bonuses to show you how dramatically out of kelter this is. that is absolutely outrageous. >> lawmakers say government documents show mr. hot tub here aka jeff neeley got a bonus of $16,000 last year. and he got it even after the agency started investigating the vegas get away he organized complete with clowns and mind readers. gsa officials say they have canceled dozens of other conferences. but they claim this week's event at opry land is required to improve the management of government charge cards. doug mckelway in the d.c. newsroom tonight. the new head of the gsa was not at today's hearing. he is at opry land learning how to use his charge card? >> don't know about that. i do know he is on a long planned family vacation. the one administrator who