WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, the top-ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, issued the following statement related to ongoing concerns over a $300 million contract awarded to Whitefish Energy:
“After the decade I’ve spent conducting oversight related to waste, fraud, and abuse in government contracting, this raises every red flag in the book. We need an investigation by the Inspector General, and we need answers from Whitefish, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, and the federal government—and we need them soon. Officials at our hearing next week had better be ready to answer tough questions on exactly what is happening with this contract given the scale of the humanitarian crisis that’s affecting millions of Americans in Puerto Rico.”
Since her time as Missouri State Auditor, McCaskill has been a leading voice in Missouri and Washington for cutting wasteful government spending. Earlier this year, McCaskill-backed bipartisan legislation to crack down on misuse of federal agency travel and purchase cards spending passed the Senate. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has unanimously approved two of her bills with Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana to eliminate wasteful spending at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. McCaskill has also expanded whistleblower protections to federal grantees, subgrantees, and others who the federal government directly or indirectly hires through bipartisan bills that have been signed into law. During her first term in the Senate, McCaskill waged a successful six-year effort to crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse in wartime contracting.
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