Arizona Congressmen Paul Gosar, and Ruben Gallego submitted a bipartisan language request to the House Appropriations Committee for the fiscal year (FY) 2017 Defense Appropriations bill seeking to retain Gosar’ rider which prohibits Department of Defense (DoD) travel card funds from being used for gambling and adult entertainment.
“We applaud the Committee’s leadership and fiscal prudence last year that saved taxpayer money by prohibiting such abuse during FY2016. Unfortunately, the President’s FY2017 budget request does not retain this language and proposes removing the rider. The administration’s misguided request is an affront to hard-working taxpayers nationwide,” read the letter signed by reps. Gosar, Gallego, Beto O’Roarke, and Walter B. Jones.
According to Gosar, a May 2015 DoD Inspector General (IG) Report found that a large number of DoD travel cards were used to gamble at casinos and at adult entertainment establishments. Specifically, the IG found that from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014, cardholders made 4,437 transactions totaling nearly a million dollars on their government issued travel cards at casinos for personal use. During that same period, there were also 900 other government transactions totaling about $100,000 at adult entertainment establishments.
“It is unthinkable that the president’s budget request seeks to remove a provision I successfully championed last year prohibiting DoD travel card funds from being used for gambling and strippers. This inexcusable action defies commonsense and further corroborates the reckless behavior of the Obama Administration. Shamefully, DoD has tried to justify this behavior stating, ‘The extremely low percentage of transactions and related spend[ing] in the report, personal use at casinos and/or adult establishments, while high risk in nature, does not appear to be a critical problem within the DoD travel card program,’” staed Gosar in a statment released on March 17.
“5,337 government transactions squandering more than a million gambling at casinos and strip clubs in less than a year is a critical problem within the DoD travel card program. The American people are sick and tired of their tax dollars constantly being abused by careless and incompetent federal agencies. I refuse to be complicit in this affront to hard-working taxpayers nationwide. The Constitution gives us the power of the purse to defund this blatant exploitation. Congress must retain the Gosar rider,” concluded Gosar.