Whistleblowers using Iraq contracting tip line, lawmaker says

House Government Reform ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., a government contracting critic, says he is fed up with the Bush administration rebuffing requests for information on reconstruction contracting business in Iraq.

So, Waxman has set up his own Internet tip line to attract government whistleblowers to feed him information. And the response since the tip line was initiated late last Friday has been big, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

"We've had a good initial response," she said. "Over 100 tips" have been filed into the office, she said. Waxman's Special Investigations Division plans to follow through on them. "All deal with Iraq," she added.

Waxman, who helped spur the current investigation into alleged overpricing of fuel by Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root, has been trying to root out waste, fraud and corruption in government contracting. A Defense Department audit has found that KBR may have overpriced fuel imported to Iraq from Kuwait by $61 million. President Bush said last Friday that Halliburton -- formerly headed by Vice President Cheney, who denies any dealings with his former company -- would be required to repay any overcharges.

"Oversight is needed to ensure that U.S. taxpayers are not being overcharged by corporations trying to profiteer in Iraq," Waxman said in a news release. "I created the tip line because the White House refuses to respond to congressional inquiries about Halliburton and other well connected contractors."

Actually, Waxman has three tip lines located at the Government Reform's minority Web site. One is aimed at whistleblowers with information about Iraq reconstruction. Another seeks information about any government official who leaks the name of U.S. intelligence agents and a third seeks details generally about waste, fraud and abuse between government agencies and private businesses.

Separately, Senate Governmental Affairs ranking member Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., a Democratic presidential aspirant, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld requesting an investigation of the Halliburton Corporation's alleged overbilling in a contract to help rebuild Iraq. Lieberman asked Rumsfeld to determine whether the company should be "considered for suspension or debarment proceedings," which could prevent the company from bidding on future government contracts.