A new report (PDF) issued by Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA), Ed Towns (D-NY), and Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) of the House Oversight Committee, has found that the Bush administration has squandered $26 billion by ignoring 13,800 recommendations made by Inspectors General of various departments of the federal government. The 64 Inspectors General, roughly half of whom are appointed directly by the president and half of whom are appointed by their respective agency directors, are engaged in fighting corruption, fraud, and waste by conducting regular examinations of government operations. By federal law, agencies under audit must respond to their reports with a plan of action within a year. However it appears that more than half of the currently open files are more than a year old. The House Oversight Committee report highlights the largest monetary losses: