WASHINGTON - Senator Chuck Grassley has offered an amendment designed to prevent fraud, waste and abuse of federal grant programs.  His proposal would amend a bill pending in the Senate which would increase the number of federal grants available for government infrastructure projects administered by state and local governments.

"Federal officials need to make certain due diligence is done on the front end to safeguard tax dollars from grant recipients who are delinquent in paying their taxes.  It's wrong that someone with big unpaid tax bills would be given a federal grant," Grassley said.  "After grants are awarded, federal agencies also need to follow up and make sure recipients of taxpayer dollars meet reporting requirements for how the money is spent."

Grassley was one of four senators who requested a government report that was released in May.  It found that 3,700 contractors and grantees owed $757 million in back taxes, but also received $24 billion in stimulus awards.  The study identified 15 cases of individual contractors or grantees involving "abusive or potentially criminal activity."  One construction firm owed nearly $400,000 in back taxes but received a contract worth more than $1 million.  One non-profit organization owed more than $2 million from years of unpaid payroll taxes, but received more than $1 million in stimulus funds.

Separately, since last fall, Grassley has worked to get the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to pay attention to the waste and abuse of tens of millions of tax dollars by the Philadelphia Housing Authority.  The Philadelphia Housing Authority received nearly $370 million in HUD money this year plus an additional $127 million in stimulus funds.  "The mess in Philadelphia shows the worst that can happen when the federal government doles out money, but then doesn't check to make sure that money is used for its intended purpose," Grassley said.

The amendment that Grassley filed to the Public Works and Economic Development Reauthorization bill this week would apply to federal grant programs authorized by the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965.

Grassley's amendment would:

1)      Ban government agencies from providing grants to any person or entity that is seriously delinquent with tax debt, including anyone with a lien from the federal government.
2)      Require that at least 10 percent of federal grants be audited annually for compliance with program requirements.
3)      Ban for two years any grantee with an unresolved problem based on an audit.

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Comment by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley
On the defeat by a vote of 59 to 40 of Coburn amendment #436, to repeal the ethanol blender's tax credit
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 

The amendment was misguided and out of touch.  Jobs are scarce and gas prices are too high, and this tax increase would make both situations even worse.

Energy tax policy ought to be reviewed, across the board, without ethanol being singled out.  The review ought to include the tax incentives for all energy sources, including oil and gas provisions that have been permanent tax law for nearly 100 years.  Already, the ethanol community is ahead of every other energy sector in stepping up with an alternative plan, one that phases out its tax incentives.  No other industry has made such a forward-looking proposal regarding its federal tax incentives.

Above all, the attack in the Senate on domestic energy is really remarkable.  We shouldn't be fighting each other over domestic energy sources.  We should be fighting OPEC and the foreign dictators and oil sheiks who have a hold over America's economy and national security.  The United States needs to drill for oil at home, encourage more conservation and develop more renewable energy sources like ethanol.

Grain ethanol has set the stage for the next generation of cellulosic ethanol.  We've seen what it's done to displace foreign oil, and the sky is the limit as we move forward with domestically produced alternative energy sources.

Star Dog Gallery 
&
Studio For Regan

225 East 2nd Street Davenport, Iowa 52801 located in Bucktown Center for the Arts
Don't miss Final Friday June 24th from 6 pm to 9 pm with: 20 Danger Will Rogers Art Crew, Paintings will be up for auction to benefit the Alzheimer's Association starting June 15th so you can place bids. (free wine and cheese bar)

www.stardogart.com

DES MOINES - Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) announced today that his staff will visit all 99 counties this summer to hear directly from Iowans on how the economy is impacting families across the state.  The listening tour aims to collect ideas for rebuilding the middle class in America- from recent college graduates looking for employment to working Iowans needing to secure their retirement.  The tour, "Rebuilding America's Middle Class: Stories from Around Iowa," will begin next week

The Iowa tour builds upon Harkin's work in Washington, where he is examining the impact of economic policies on the middle class.  In mid-May, Senator Harkin, as Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, convened his first Committee hearing on this issue entitled, "The Endangered Middle Class: Is the American Dream Slipping Out of Reach for American Families?"  Archived video and testimony from that hearing can be found here.

"As I travel in Iowa and across the country, I hear from more and more hardworking middle class families who feel that the American Dream is slipping away," said Harkin.  "One thing is certain:  there can be no sustainable economic recovery without the recovery of our middle class.  This listening tour will collect ideas directly from the students, workers, near retirees, and all of those impacted by this economy."

Each summer, Senator Harkin's staff visits each Iowa County to talk to Iowans about the issues impacting them and their families.  Staff will then post information on their visits on Senator Harkin's web site (http://harkin.senate.gov/) Last summer's tour focused on the positive impact the Americans with Disability Act has had on Iowans as the nation celebrated the law's 20th anniversary.  To read staff accounts of that tour, click here.