This is what passes for oversight

[Updates I, II & III: see below]

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) now the ranking Republican on the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) is cracking down on the most hideous forms of waste in government. Norm would like you to think he's working hard to excise government waste of taxpayer dollars. After all, he's running for reelection in 2008.

Most business-class and first-class travel by federal bureaucrats is improper and unwarranted, costing taxpayers an extra $146 million in a recent 12-month period, congressional investigators said.

The most common abuse by federal employees is the overuse of business-class fares, which receive less scrutiny than first-class tickets but cost several times more than coach prices. Even though business-class travel accounts for 96% of all premium-class travel at federal agencies, many departments don't monitor it, according to a Government Accountability Office study being released today.

In the 12 months that ended June 30, the GAO found, at least $146 million, or 67%, of the money federal agencies spent on premium-class travel was not properly authorized or justified, the report said. Senior executives and presidential appointees, who comprise less than 0.5% of the federal work force, accounted for 15% of the tab, it said.

"The abuse of business-class travel is particularly troubling, as it usually costs more than five times the price of coach-class travel," Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, ranking member on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said in a statement. He has introduced legislation that would require agencies to track and report their use of business-class travel, as they do for first-class travel.
(WSJ)

It's great to know that while Norm can't be bothered to investigate billions of dollars of corruption and waste in no-bid contracts in Iraq, he's all over busting civil servants. $146 million gets wasted in a matter of a few days over in Iraq, but we only hear Norm calling for oversight as his reelection fears mount.

I feel like a broken record, but as Chair of the PSI from 2003 to 2007 when the Republicans controlled the Senate, Norm failed to investigate:

• Dispersal of the Iraqi Army
• Cronyism in appointments in Provisional Govt
• Torture at Abu Ghraib
• No bid contracts
• Disappearing money
• Corruption among contracting companies in Iraq
• Poorly constructed facilities built by contractors
• Contaminated water drunk and used by troops
• Abuses committed by contracting companies in Iraq
• Death of Pat Tillman
• Lies surrounding abduction and rescue of Jessica Lynch
• Overcharges among contracting companies in Iraq

Norm was interviewed for CBS News. The video is here. Here's my transcript of what Norm said:

"The key issue here is there's no oversight of 96% of the travel where most of the money is spent."

"I don't know whether they know, I I can't say they're saying its not being monitored we're gonna do it. I can tell that if its not being monitored, if there isn't sunlight, if there isn't transparency the potential for abuse explodes exponentially. That's the reality. We saw it in the Defense Department, we began to monitor and cut down on the abuse. In part its the [unintelligible] to have policies and procedures to follow. Right now you don't have that. And so there there isn't transparency. And we need to change that, we need to change that and we will."

"The travel rules are not abusive they simply say that the taxpayer shouldn't be paying more for the cost of travel than one would responsibly expect them to pay. If your flight is over 14 hours you can take premium travel there are a whole range of circumstances that allow you can do it. Our concern is with premium travel where somebody has their travel authorized by a subordinate. That's not justified or premium travel where you have a medical reason for it and the medical reason goes back to a non doctor signed four years ago. That's not authorized. We're, We're not talking about imposing hardships or brutalizing the federal employees we're saying follow the rules, follow the regulations that have been in place a system to monitor that."

Reporter: Is this really all that much money?

"With the with the federal government a few little upgrades result in millions of dollars in unauthorized spending. Premium travel, business travel is five to ten times the cost. There were fifty three thousand, fifty three thousand tickets for business travel. So you multiply fifty three thousand by thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars and its a lot of money."
(CBS News video)

This is awesome. The reporter challenges Norm if its a lot of money. While I admit that such oversight is important, the hypocrisy of Norm taking such a principled stand while completely ignoring the waste and corruption in the contracting in Iraq is stupendous.

The line "we're not talking about imposing hardships or brutalizing the federal employees" is classic Norm-speak^(TM). He's not a mean guy. He's got a kind heart. He's not going to brutalize anyone. The reality is Norm seems to have three sets of rules. The first is for pretty much everyone, you have to follow the rules. The second is for selected times when the outcry against a conservative's heinous behavior has grown so loud that Norm is forced to take a principled stand (e.g., Larry Craig's toilet troubles and Rush Limbaugh's "phony soldiers" quote). And the third is for all other conservatives -- the rules don't apply and Norm will look the other way.

A reader pointed this out and I'm ashamed to say I hadn't thought of this. While Norm is all over civil servants taking expensive trips on the tax payers' dime, Norm takes more privately funded trips paid than anyone but Sen. Joe Biden. 46 trips taken for $94,847 and 120 approved for $229,815. That's a lot of trips.

(Legistorm)

Furthermore, knowing that he's going to be in a tough reelection campaign, Norm has cut back on his travel like many other Senators.

Some members of Congress preparing for heated contests in 2008 have sharply curtailed their private travel since lobbying scandals brought the issue to the forefront over the last couple of years.

Among other rule changes, the Democratic-led House last week passed measures to rein in private travel, shortly after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the new members were sworn in.

The move came the day after a Center for Public Integrity study showed a steep decline in private travel among all members and staff in the year before June 30, 2006.

According to PoliticalMoneyLine.com, Sen. Joseph Biden Jr. (D-Del.) took zero trips in 2006 after taking 48 the previous three years, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) took one trip after taking 46 from 2003 through 2005, and Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) took no trips after taking 45 over the previous six years.

Biden is running for president, Coleman is one of the premier Senate targets in 2008, and Bayh mulled a presidential bid before declining to run last month. The three had been among Congress’s top travelers before last year.
(The Hill)

[Update III]

Here's some Norm-speak^(TM) in the NYTimes.

“No one disputes that government officials have to travel,” said Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, the ranking Republican on the Senate panel that requested the report. “But government is about first-class service. It is certainly not about first-class lifestyles.”
(NYTimes