No-Bid Contracts Amendment Passes in Senate

Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) amendment to the Emergency Supplemental Bill, requiring competitive bidding for federal contracts regarding Katrina reconstruction passed in the Senate yesterday.

The total amount of federal funding for hurricane recovery will now exceed $100 billion, and it's safe to say that more money will be needed in the months and years to come...But in order to make good on the President's pledge to rebuild the Gulf Coast, we need to do more. We need to pledge to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. Unfortunately, we haven't done a very good job so far of delivering on this pledge

Obama continued

I've often heard it said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results...Frankly, what we're doing with Katrina funding borders on insanity - we in Congress just keep trusting FEMA to enter into competitive contracts even though there's no evidence that it has any intention of doing so. The American people deserve the benefits of competition on government contracts. Before we spend another dollar in the Gulf Coast, let's make sure that we have some transparency and accountability systems in place to ensure that federal money is helping those people most in need, instead of lining the pockets of a contractor

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