Published March 1980 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Weeding Out Waste A recent report prepared by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) demonstrates why government agencies need to do their homework before spending taxpayers' money. In response to my request, the GAO investigated the use of federal funds to recruit foreign workers to aid in the 1978 apple harvest in West Virginia as well as several other East Coast states. When domestic workers are unavailable, assistance is sought from foreign employees on a temporary basis to prevent crop loss to growers. The GAO report noted that the U.S. Department of Labor referred 133 workers to West Virginia growers in 1978, but only six of them stayed on the job for 15 days or longer, and only three workers remained to complete the harvest. In West Virginia, a total of $27,745 in federal money was spent on the recruitment project, most of which was allocated under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973. This sum, according to the report, "far exceeded the wages earned by the workers." Assistance to growers also was minimal since the apple harvest was late, and no effort was made to delay the scheduled arrival of offshore workers to coincide with the harvest. Thus, the project failed to provide meaningful assistance to growers or workers, representing a waste of federal funds which cannot be tolerated. The primary causes of this project's lack of success, according to the report, were attributed to failure to recruit qualified workers and failure to train them for the job. The recommendations of this requested investigation suggest that the Department of Labor develop procedures to ensure an adequate recruiting period so that qualified workers can be hired. The recruitment program also should provide job orientation and training. It is imperative that the Department of Labor, or any governmental agency, take the necessary precautions to ensure that federal money is being well-spent. It is appropriate that those responsible for oversight of governmental programs continue to be on the alert to eliminate inefficient use of taxpayers' money. March 5, 1980