mr. chairman , this amendment adds $ 5 million to the operation and maintenance defense-wide account . 
the secretary of defense , using existing transfer authority , may transfer that money to the legislative branch for the purpose of establishing a select committee , in essence along the outlines of the amendment that i just reviewed moments ago , and i will not belabor that point by going over all of that information , except to say that it would be a select committee for the purposes of investigating contracts and related materials with respect to things being spent in iraq and afghanistan and the issue of terrorism . 
as i mentioned earlier , this is and should be a bipartisan effort . 
i think the gentleman from iowa ( mr. leach ) xz4002360 should be commended for his leadership on this and for pointing out the fact that , in fact , when harry truman did it years ago , he was a democrat and the president was a democrat , and he still found it the patriotic and judicious thing to do with respect to the responsibilities of the house of representatives ; and if we are to maintain the integrity of this congress and our responsibility of oversight of such huge sums of money , it would be the appropriate thing for us to do now in a bipartisan way . 
critics may say that there is no need to create a select committee when congress has standing committees to perform this role . 
regrettably , those standing committees have not done that , not exercised their institutional responsibilities to the extent they could in this particular congress . 
the gentleman from connecticut ( mr. shays ) xz4003700 and the committee on government reform has tried , but the full committee on government reform has only met four times on related hearings . 
similarly , the house committee on armed services has taken up this issue once in june of 2004 at a readiness subcommittee hearing , but beyond that it has not delved into the issue . 
mr. chairman , there is certainly a need with the billions and billions of dollars being spent . 
the gentleman from california ( mr. waxman ) xz4004250 has been vocal about his attention to this matter . 
the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. obey ) xz4003000 spoke earlier about the $ 100 million found in contracts that were questioned just yesterday , and the fact that report was kept from us at a time when our taxpayers , our constituents and our citizens want to know about these enormous sums of money , and want us to do our job . 
there is a need . 
we in congress have a responsibility . 
the institution 's integrity demands it , and the american taxpayer and our troops deserve it . 
they deserve no less . 
