A top Senate Democrat on Sunday joined the chorus of lawmakers vowing to get to the bottom of what happened in Vegas -- after a federal agency blew through more than $820,000 for a 2010 conference.

"Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the No. 2 Democrat in the chamber, said the subcommittee he leads on the Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing on the controversy ...", "Two House committees already have launched their own investigations."

And just how much money is the government going to waste on hearings and investigations? This story broke less than a week ago and already no less than three committees / hearings have been announced.

Stupid. Just plain stupid.

Assign the investigation to the Government Accounting Office (GAO) whose responsibility is to "investigate, at the seat of government or elsewhere, all matters relating to the receipt, disbursement, and application of public funds ..." Submit the report to the President and congress. Let heads roll as appropriate.

In my opinion this is more grandstanding by congress to distract the America public from the fact they cannot accomplish anything significant, such as producing a federal budget, reducing the federal deficit, simplifying the tax code or passing legislation designed to help improve the economy.

May, 2012