Taxpayer-funded charges
Two prominent Republicans are demanding the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) carry out a full investigation into the Department of Defense’s taxpayer-funded charges at casinos, bars,and nightclubs.
a comprehensive review into DoD spending
US Sen. Joni Ernst and Rep. James Comer want the GAO to conduct a comprehensive review into DoD spending incurred at “high-risk merchants.” These include casino ATMs and iGaming sites.
Sen. Joni Ernst took to X Monday to state Pentagon bureaucrats using government credit cards for such transactions was “indefensible:”
Under DoD Inspector General Steven A. Stebbins, a recent audit of the Pentagon department revealed nearly two charge cards per federal employee, with overall expenditure exceeding $40bn in the last fiscal year alone.
Spend questioned
Stebbins’ office found nearly 8,000 DoD credit card transactions at maximum risk locations, including casinos, over the past year.
an extra 3,246 transactions took place at nightclubs and bars”
According to news sources, an extra 3,246 transactions took place at nightclubs and bars, “many of them on federal holidays, Super Bowl Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day, the day of UFC 300, Cinco de Mayo and New Year’s Eve.”
In a letter to GAO Comptroller General Gene Dodaro last week, federal lawmakers Sen. Ernst and House Oversight Chairman Comer called for “urgently needed” reforms to charge card programs.
The federal lawmakers want Dodaro’s office to review the issuing and “management of government purchase, travel, fleet, and integrated charge cards and accounts across federal agencies.”
The duo cited a report from Stebbins’ office that found 15,610 questionable transactions including sports betting, dating apps, cruises, marijuana, golf, and fortune tellers. “We are skeptical these charges were for legitimate purposes or in service of the DoD’s mission for which the cards were issued,” Ernst and Comer wrote.
Rein it in
The federal lawmakers also accused the DoD of not employing anti-fraud systems, such as Visa IntelliLink Compliance Management, to pinpoint federal travel charge card abuse and fraud.
“With Washington $36 trillion in debt, the last thing we need is bureaucrats maxing out their tab and sticking taxpayers with the bill,” the pair wrote to Dodaro.
“There should never be more credit cards than federal employees.”
