Golden Fleece Award

WASHINGTON – Congressman French Hill (R-AR) named the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Indian Education as the latest winner of the Golden Fleece award for failing to maintain the facilities at Pine Hill Schools in New Mexico despite being given $7.5 million taxpayer dollars for school upkeep. “I am astounded at the lack of concern demonstrated by the Bureau of Indian… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman French Hill (R-AR) named the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) as the latest winner of the Golden Fleece award for their mismanagement and loss of over $1 million in medical equipment in VA facilities in Ohio. “How any government agency misplaces equipment valued at over $1 million and paid for with hardworking taxpayer dollars boggles the… Read more »

Congressman French Hill (R-AR) named the Department of Defense (DoD) as February’s winner of the Golden Fleece award for the mismanagement and waste of taxpayer funds in Afghanistan. In the letter to the Department of Defense Secretary James Mattis, Congressman Hill wrote: March 8, 2018 The Honorable James Mattis Secretary Department of Defense 1000 Defense… Read more »

Congressman French Hill (R-AR) named the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as the first winner of the Golden Fleece award of 2018 for the mismanagement of manufactured trailers during their response to 2017 natural disasters. In the letter to the FEMA Administrator William B. “Brock” Long, Congressman Hill wrote: January 31, 2018 The Honorable William B. "Brock"… Read more »

Congressman French Hill (R-AR) named the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) as the final winner of the Golden Fleece award of 2017 for wasteful spending and an institutional lack of accountability. In the letter to WMATA General Manager and CEO Paul Wiedefeld, Congressman Hill wrote: Dear Mr. Wiedefeld: I write today to inform you that your agency is this… Read more »

Congressman French Hill (R-AR) named the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) as the latest winner of the Golden Fleece award for wasteful spending on an idle data warehouse. OPM has spent over $10 million to build a data warehouse for health claims data from beneficiaries of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB), data that OPM does not have, according to a… Read more »

Congressman French Hill (R-AR) named the Department of Defense (DoD) as the latest winner of the Golden Fleece award for having never conducted a financial audit. An annual financial audit by each federal agency, including DoD, is required by the Chief Financial Officer’s Act of 1990. Further, DoD financial management has been on the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) “High Risk… Read more »

Congressman French Hill (R-AR) named the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as the latest winner of the Golden Fleece award for their wasteful spending on polygraph tests. Earlier this month, an Office of Inspector General (OIG) report found that the CBP had spent more than five million dollars on polygraph tests for job candidates who had previously disclosed disqualifying conduct,… Read more »

Today, Congressman French Hill (AR-02) announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would receive the Golden Fleece Award for the rash of drug thefts at VA health facilities. Recent data from the Drug Enforcement Administration shows the rate of reported missing drugs at VA health facilities was more than double that of private sector hospitals. Since reinstituting the Golden… Read more »

Today, Congressman French Hill (AR-02) announced that this month’s Golden Fleece recipient is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) during an interview on First News with Kevin Miller. During the interview, Hill stated, “The IRS’ anti-fraud program [is] a really important part of what the IRS does.  Just between 2008 and 2010, they lost $458 billion a year on not capturing… Read more »