House orders hunt for fraud at Education Department

DAILY BRIEFING

House orders hunt for fraud at Education Department

The House voted Tuesday to require the General Accounting Office to conduct an audit of the Education Department in an effort to uncover fraud in the programs it manages.

In a 380-19 vote, the House directed GAO to study department accounts deemed particularly susceptible to abuse by the people it serves, its contractors and its own employees.

Sponsors of the legislation (HR 4079) said the move was necessary because the department had failed financial audits for the past two years.

"We are dealing with this issue because of the Department of Education's inability to receive a clean audit," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich.

Last month, Hoekstra reported that an Education contract employee stole $300,000 worth of computer equipment and that an employee and a co-worker received $600,000 in falsely claimed overtime pay from the department, aided by a full-time employee. He also said Education had issued more than $100 million in duplicate checks to grantees since October 1999.

Education Department officials told the Associated Press that a special investigation is unnecessary because the department's own auditors have worked with the FBI and other investigators to uncover fraud.