White House exempts contractor fraud in Iraq

By Libby

While what sometimes seems to be the bulk of Leftopia was obsessed with deciding which Democrat is more electable, the White House has been making good use of the cover to pull another fast move in the interests of corporate corruption.

Last year, a proposed budget rule came down the pike that requires U.S. contractors to report all fraud and abuse that they come upon during their work for the government. Little did people realize, only until recently, that the published rule which came out late last year contained an interesting exemption:


But in a twist that has evolved into a Capitol Hill mystery, the proposed rule that the White House's Office of Management and Budget published late last year includes language that would exempt from such reporting all U.S. contractors who do work overseas.

Even the Justice Dept. is appalled and nobody seems to know exactly when this canny little exemption skulked into the rule or who managed to slip it in. Meanwhile, the administration response is -- to put it into technical terms -- nyah, nyah.

A spokeswoman for the White House Office of Management and Budget, which reviews contracts policy, said comments about any part of the proposed crackdown "will be taken into full consideration." She would not specifically discuss the overseas exemption or the investigation it prompted.

Didn't the guy who was doing the only real oversight of the fraud in Iraq just resign recently? And is anybody else thinking, this might have been why?