No-Bid contracts and the Bush/Cheney legacy

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Taxes were cut for the wealthiest Americans back in the early years of this Administration. Next, the debt started to accumulate and because the war in Iraq and Afghanistan has been very costly, this Administration has created the highest debt burden in history, and our children and grandchildren will have to pay it off. If that isn't bad enough, some of the debt incurred was done with no-bid contracts.

From Terri Shaw, Jan. 28, 2004 and the Center for American Progress on Prescription Drug Prices: "The Medicare prescription drug benefit that the President signed into law in 2003 and lauded in his State of the Union speech in January 2004 omitted any effective mechanisms to lower prescription drug prices. Instead, the President and Congressional leaders drafted the law with the intent of emulating the private market practices that have brought us to where we are today – exploding prescription drug costs that are increasingly borne by patients due to health insurers’ restructuring of drug benefits. Even if the Medicare program experiences similarly unsustainable costs, the new law expressly forbids the secretary of Health and Human Services from acting to ensure reasonable prices under the drug benefit." Over 51% of Seniors have not signed up for this program to date because they are unsure about the costs, and the plan is very complex for people with Advanced degrees to understand, let alone seniors in their late 80's and 90's.

Just as Bush had previously bankrupt his own oil company, he has now bankrupt America. And who benefits from this? Bush, Cheney and their cronies have, that’s who! And who is going to pay for all of this? I’ll tell you: the Middle Class! And who will pay for all the Medical bills and Social Services for all the illegal immigrants who need these services and by the way, who do not pay taxes? Again: the Middle Class! After having created this huge mess, how can Bush and Cheney act so indifferent and scold us for questioning their decisions? Have they no shame, no conscience? Where are their deeply held religious convictions we have been hearing about these past 6 plus years? What became of the "compassionate conservative" Bush?

Here are some recent excerpts on the topic of No-Bid contracts that benefit their friends and them:

-FEMA Abandons Pledge on 4 No-Bid Contracts
By HOPE YEN Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — FEMA has broken its promise to reopen four multimillion-dollar no-bid contracts for Hurricane Katrina work, including three that federal auditors say wasted significant amounts of money.

A review by the Government Accountability Office of 13 major contracts said last week the government had wasted millions of dollars, due mostly to poor planning by FEMA. Among the 13 were three of the four no-bid contracts for temporary housing, worth up to $500 million each, that went to three major firms with extensive government ties.

-February 27, 2006
Bush Administration To Pay Disputed Halliburton Costs

From the DNC:

Washington, DC – Today, despite admitting numerous problems with a contract with a Halliburton subsidiary, including disputed costs, overcharging and questionable business practices, the Bush Administration announced that they will pay "nearly all" of the disputed costs, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. The disputed charges are part of a multi-billion dollar, no-bid contract awarded to a firm formerly run by Vice President Cheney.
"The Army has decided to reimburse a Halliburton subsidiary for nearly all of its disputed costs on a $2.41 billion no-bid contract to deliver fuel and repair oil equipment in Iraq, even though the Pentagon's own auditors had identified more than $250 million in charges as potentially excessive or unjustified."

-All In The Family
Sept. 21, 2003
Vice President Dick Cheney was the former CEO of Halliburton. (AP / CBS)

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Halliburton nearly doubled the value of federal contracts it received – from $1.2 to $2.3 billion – during the five years Cheney was its CEO.

Even before the first shots were fired in Iraq, the Pentagon had secretly awarded Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root a two-year, no-bid contract to put out oil well fires and to handle other unspecified duties involving war damage to the country’s petroleum industry. It is worth up to $7 billion.

“They basically told us that there wasn't going to be any oil well fires.”
Grace showed 60 Minutes a letter from the Department of Defense saying: "The department is aware of a broad range of well firefighting capabilities and techniques available. However, we believe it is too early to speculate what might happen in the event that war breaks out in the region."

It was dated Dec. 30, 2002, more than a month after the Army Corps of Engineers began talking to Halliburton about putting out oil well fires in Iraq.