-Caveat Lector- House Panel Grills Education Dept. By ANJETTA McQUEEN .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The Education Department, unable to give a Congressional panel an accounting of disputed parts of a $32 billion budget and billions more in student loans it manages, insisted it broke no laws and could overcome its accounting troubles. ``Our auditors identified issues we must address, but they did not report that any funds were lost, misallocated or stolen,'' Marshall Smith, a deputy to Education Secretary Richard Riley, told the oversight and investigations subcommittee of the House Education and Workforce Committee on Monday. Testimony came a few weeks after the department, one of four federal agencies unable to audit its 1998 books, became the last of the 24 agencies to submit reports to the agency that oversees federal auditing. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the investigations panel, said the department, with its 1998 accounts in disarray, could be wasting millions of taxpayer dollars meant for education programs. Hoekstra read internal department e-mails and other documents that recounted duplicate payments to grant winners and even an $800 million college loan to a single student. ``Some say an audit is like making sure your shoes are tied, so you don't trip,'' said Hoekstra. ``If the department's shoes are tied, there is less chance of taxpayer dollars being lost to waste, fraud and abuse.'' Smith blamed a new accounting system that turned out to be faulty, and new demands to prepare more financial statements. But he disputed allegations that the disputed accounts and the lack of an audit threatens money for federal programs for kindergarten-through-12th grade schoolchildren and college students. Hoekstra has clashed with the department over proposed budget cuts and accused it of keeping a ``slush fund'' by not sending unclaimed grant money back to the Treasury. Witnesses told the panel that the department's ledgers routinely differed from the transaction amounts it reported to the Treasury. Often, the department would make adjustments to its own records without the paperwork to support these changes, said Gloria Jarmon, who handles education and other issues for the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative agency. Panel Democrats praised the department for lowering the student loan default rate and other financial improvements, but also pledged to get specific answers on the accounting problems. ``We need a coherent response to this,'' said Rep. Robert Scott, D-Va., ``We can't just have a billion here, a billion there.'' But neither the department's internal watchdog nor the independent auditing firm it hired to review the books could confirm any financial mismanagement. In recent weeks the accounting firm, Ernst & Young, reported that computer breakdowns and missing paperwork left the department unable to account for chunks of money ranging from $500 million in un-awarded grants to up to $6 billion in discrepancies with Treasury's accounting of what the Education Department has spent. But Michael Lampley, a partner in Ernst & Young, said: ``I have no direct knowledge of any financial mismanagement or violation of law I can report to you.'' Smith told the committee that the department's faulty accounting system cost $5.1 million, but that he could not estimate the cost of manpower and time spent trying to make up for its flaws. He also told the panel that the department had not yet chosen a replacement system. The new system would be the department's third in five years. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
