Washington, D.C. – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today called upon President Clinton to reimburse taxpayers for the cost of the Monica Lewinsky portion of the independent counsel’s investigation.  According to a recent article in the Washington Times, the cost of the Lewinsky investigation is estimated at $2.5 million.

“The President owes the American public more than an apology for his gross prevarications over the past seven months,” remarked CAGW President Thomas A. Schatz.  “His willful deceptions over the Lewinsky matter have cost taxpayers at least $2.5 million to date – a figure that will undoubtedly swell before the investigation is wrapped up.”

Since Jan. 1, 1998, the Independent Counsel’s office has spent $5 million on its ongoing investigation of the President.  According to the Times, about half of that amount – $2.5 million – would have been unnecessary if there had been no pursuit of the “Lewinsky angle.”  Of course, the $2.5 million figure does not include the cost to taxpayers of repeated attempts by government-paid lawyers to quash subpoenas issued to Clinton confidants and appeal rulings on questionable privileges invoked by the White House.

“Nowhere in his multitude of apologies have we heard the President accept responsibility for the cost of the Lewinsky investigation,” said Schatz.  “If he truly wants forgiveness, he should step up to the plate, give the public an accurate accounting of the costs of the inquest, and offer to reimburse taxpayers for the cost of his stonewalling.”

CAGW is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, inefficiency, mismanagement and abuse in the federal government.