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Fiorina: Government Employees 'Watching Porn All Day' Are Treated the Same As Those Doing a Good Job

October 29, 2015

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina laid out a humorous case for accountability and zero-based budgeting for government agencies Thursday on Morning Joe, arguing that federal employees who are "watching porn all day" are treated the same as the ones who do good work.

Fiorina said "we have no idea" where American money is being spent and criticized appropriations hearings for only being about budget hikes rather than serious discussions about how much money agencies deserve. The government has become "bigger" and "more inept" as a result, she argued.

"Zero-based budgeting basically means we look at every dime and every dollar that every agency has to justify," Fiorina said. "Part of my message to the American people is we talk about all these big ideas election after election after election, and yet they never happen. We never have tax reform. We never have entitlement reform."

Fiorina said it began with holding employees accountable.

"Imagine if you're one of those government employees that works really hard, is trying really hard to do a good job, and the guy next to you is watching porn all day, and there's no difference," Fiorina said. "Imagine how dispiriting that is. We know that happens all the time."

The Free Beacon has previously reported on exactly those kinds of employees. The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed last year it had actually given bonuses to an employee who spent up to six hours a day watching pornography on his computer while on the taxpayer's dime. The EPA has also struggled with workers defecating in office hallways.

Fiorina's remarks drew laughter from the MSNBC panel, with Joe Scarborough joking that Fiorina shouldn't attack absent co-host Willie Geist's work habits.