Golden Fleece Award

Little Rock, Ark. – Rep. French Hill (AR-02) named the Food and Drug Administration as the latest recipient of the Golden Fleece Award for charging distilleries $14,060 in fees for producing hand sanitizer during the COVID-19 pandemic. “America’s distilleries stepped up to produce hand sanitizer when it was in short supply at the start of the pandemic, quickly realigning… Read more »

Rep. French Hill (AR-02) named the Department of Commerce as the latest recipient of the Golden Fleece Award for not giving American businesses a meaningful opportunity to appeal burdensome tariffs. According to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the Department of Commerce rejected 19,000 exclusion requests due to… Read more »

WASHINGTON D.C. — Rep. French Hill (AR-02) named the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as the latest recipient of the Golden Fleece Award for sending CARES Act Economic Impact Payments to foreign workers living in the United States and $1.4 billion to the deceased. "My office has dozens of cases open with the IRS for central Arkansans that have still not received their Economic Impact… Read more »

WASHINGTON D.C. — Rep. French Hill (AR-02) named the State Department as the latest recipient of the Golden Fleece Award for needlessly delaying more than 1.6 million passport applications. "While the State Department was quick to respond to the coronavirus’ outbreak at the beginning of the year, it made the wrong decision to… Read more »

WASHINGTON D.C. — This week, Representative French Hill (AR-02) named the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) as the latest recipient of his Golden Fleece Award, a monthly bulletin on the most frivolous and wasteful uses of hardworking taxpayers’ dollars, for awarding 27 contracts valued at $827.8 million to 16 companies that did not meet the requirements of… Read more »

WASHINGTON D.C. — Congressman French Hill (R-AR) named the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the first winner of the Golden Fleece Award in 2020 for failing to issue fines and against clinical trial sponsors who did not disclose their trial results within one calendar year. In 2017, the FDA gained the ability to charge violators who did not disclose trial results $10,000 per… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. — This week, Congressman French Hill (AR-02) named the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) as the latest recipient of his Golden Fleece Award for failing to account for an estimated 34.3 percent of laptops purchased between 2013 and 2017.  “DOT has earned my Golden Fleece this month not only for losing nearly $3 million in taxpayer-purchased equipment, but… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. — This week, Congressman French Hill (AR-02) named the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as the latest recipient of his Golden Fleece Award for using taxpayer funds to conduct illegal drug workplace reviews of federal contractors.  “The fact that federal contractors for NASA are… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. — This week, Congressman French Hill (AR-02) named the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Amtrak, as the latest recipient of his Golden Fleece Award for being unable to account for $4.1 million in equipment due to a lack of proper asset management controls. "As the recipient of billions of dollars in U.S.… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued a new directive that closed a loophole previously allowing executives of the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to earn more than the congressionally mandated pay cap of $600,000. In May of this year, Congressman Hill featured… Read more »