This past Wednesday, the House Oversight and Government Reform (OGR) Subcommittee on Government Operations held a hearing on time and attendance abuse at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Earlier this year, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that the USPTO wasted more than $18.3 million paying workers for unsupported hours.

The 2016 investigation of the USPTO came on the heels of a 2015 one that also found severe time and attendance abuse issues at the agency.

No USPTO workers who have committed time and attendance abuse have been prosecuted.

This shocking waste of taxpayer dollars - paying government employees who rarely show up to work or don’t do what they’re supposed to while at work - just confirms what a lot of people think about the D.C. work ethic.

Click here to watch my full line of questioning from this hearing.

In OGR this week, we also examined the overclassification of national security information, which can sometimes prevent Congress from accessing information needed to keep federal agencies accountable.

Over the last 10 years, the federal government spent more than $100 billion on classification. However, only 10-50 percent of that classified material is actually labeled correctly.

Click here to read more about this hearing.