Democrats ask GAO to probe Halliburton defense contracts
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Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, and Rep. John Dingell, D-Michigan, Tuesday asked the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to look into contracts received over the last two years by the Texas-based Halliburton Corp. and its subsidiaries, which the congressmen said totaled at least $600 million. “The ties between the vice president and Halliburton have raised concerns about whether the company has received favorable treatment from the administration,” Waxman and Dingell wrote in a letter to the GAO. But a spokeswoman for Cheney, who was Halliburton’s CEO from 1995 to 2000, said he “has nothing at all to do with awarding these contracts, the bidding process or the current work orders.” “He severed all financial ties with Halliburton before he took office,” said spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise. Among the contracts that Waxman and Dingell want the GAO to investigate is one awarded last month by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Kellogg Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary, to put out oil fires in Iraq, without competitive bidding or a price cap. But a spokesman for the Corps of Engineers told CNN that KBR was awarded the contract because it had already won a bid in December 2001 to pre-position firefighting assets in the region. “They were the only ones who had the people and equipment there to respond quickly,” said spokesman Scott Saunders. “Oil well fires are environmentally and economically disastrous, and we couldn’t wait.” Wendy Hall, a spokeswoman for Halliburton, said charges of preferential treatment were off base, noting that KBR has been working for the Defense Department since before World War II. “The vice president has absolutely nothing to do with the awarding of defense contracts,” she said. “With more than 60 years of government experience, KBR has a proven track record on military contracts, such as production of Navy war ships for World War II, the construction of the Phan Rang Air Base in Vietnam in 1965 and the designation as the premier logistics services provider for U.S. troops stationed in the Balkans.” More : edition.cnn.com |