House votes to limit no-bid contracts

[babylonsister]

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/117404258573390.xml&coll=2

House votes to limit no-bid contracts
Friday, March 16, 2007
Jim Abrams
Associated Press

Washington -- The House voted to limit no-bid federal contracts Thursday, alleging abuses and citing huge losses in contracts for Katrina recovery and Iraq reconstruction.

The Accountability in Contracting Act was the last of five open government bills the House passed this week under new Democratic leaders critical of what they say has been the closed and secretive nature of the Bush administration.

The bill, which now goes to the Senate, passed 347-73. Ohio's Democrats voted for the bill along with eight Ohio Republicans. Voting against it were Republicans John Boehner of West Chester, Jean Schmidt of Miami Township and Mike Turner of Centerville.

The White House opposed the contracting bill, as it did most of the other bills, saying it would complicate the administration's own efforts to make contracting more competitive.

Democrats cited figures showing that federal contracts have nearly doubled in the Bush years, to about $400 billion a year, and that sole-source contracts, where there is no competitive bidding, grew from $67 billion in 2000 to $145 billion in 2005.

Much of the criticism of no-bid contracts has been directed at Halliburton, a giant oil services company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney that was given noncompetitive work to restore Iraq's oil production.

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[skipos]

1. Nice to see the Dems lead the way on fiscal reponsibilty again nt