ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) -
Fox News has learned that spending by the General Services Administration (GSA) has topped more than $28 million on conferences since 2005, and Orlando is number one on the list among cities visited and money spent, at $3.55 million.
Congressman John Mica, R-Winter Park, chaired a hearing on the 77 conferences that have been held since an order was given by President Obama to cut back on the lavish meetings.
"These conferences are significant abuses and waste," said Rep. Mica.
At a recent GSA conference held in Virginia, employees were given $20,000 worth of drumsticks, and $35,000 worth of picture frames. Congressman Jeff Denham of California is outraged.
"Billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars. If you can't manage conferences and bonuses, how can you expect that Congress is going to allow you to handle billions of dollars worth of leases."
GSA Administrator Cynthia Metzger sat in for the agency's Director and says the problems are being fixed.
"My office now reviews each and every planned future conference to make sure that these and any future events are justified."
Employees of the GSA make up just one percent of the federal workforce, but were given 10 percent of government bonuses, further angering Congressman Mica.
"All of these combined we've now uncovered about $44 million in bonuses."
Next year, the GSA will hold it's annual Expo at the Convention Center in Orlando. This expo is the same event where last year clowns and mind readers were hired. The GSA also spent $75,000 of taxpayer money for a bike building exercise, but taxpayers didn't even get to keep the bicycles.
President Obama ordered the GSA and all federal agencies to stop the lavish spending on conferences, but the GSA has held 77 of them since, leading Congress to ask the administrators if they are directly disobeying their boss.
