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I believe Congress should be committed to conducting meaningful oversight when it comes to examining how Washington spends your hard-earned tax dollars. It is imperative our government run as efficiently and effectively as possible in order to meet the many challenges facing our nation. To that end, I continue to work toward eliminating the fiscal waste and abuse found throughout the government bureaucracy, and ask members of Congress and citizens across the country will join me in this effort to demand transparency and accountability in the federal budget.

  • Reports: As part of this oversight initiative, I am working to release a series of oversight reports on federal agencies. I hope agencies and other congressional committees alike will welcome this oversight and work with us to help identify even more areas of waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as new ways to better prioritize our nation’s limited financial resources. To view these oversight reports, please visit the “Investigative Reports” page:

  • Government Waste: For examples of outrageous government waste, visit the “Your Tax Dollars at Work” and "Washington Waste of the Day" pages.



    If you have discovered government waste, and want to submit a tip (anonymously, if you wish) for an area in need of oversight, please visit the "Submit a Tip About Government Waste" page:

  • Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency:  The USASpending.gov website allows you to “google” all government grants, contracts and loans, so you can track how your money is being spent by Washington:

The information listed below is my latest oversight reports and letters.  I am absolutely committed to aggressive and responsible congressional oversight of all federal spending. I will identify problems and provide information to the Congress and the public. However, it is up to the American people to demand that their elected officials respond vigorously to the findings.

Tom Coburn, M.D.

 

 

June 16, 2009

Senator Coburn releases new report, "100 Stimulus Projects: A Second Opinion "


100 Stimulus Projects: a Second Opinion

Senator Tom Coburn released a new report identifying 100 questionable stimulus projects. By offering 100 examples of questionable stimulus projects, worth $5.5 billion, this report does not attempt to prove that the stimulus is not working. Rather, the intent is to educate taxpayers, policymakers and the media on lessons that can be learned from some of the early missteps and prevent other questionable projects from moving forward. (Direct link to report)

As Congress debated the stimulus bill in February, there were significant concerns that billions of dollars would be wasted and the bill was rushed to passage without a single member of Congress reading it. This waste is troubling both for its short-term failure to put Americans back to work and for its long-term fiscal impact on the nation. Our current national debt exceeds $11 trillion and the Congressional Budget Office projects more than $1 trillion will be added per year to it for the next decade, in large part due to stimulus spending.

Top Ten Projects:

  1. “Free” Stimulus Money Results in Higher Utility Costs for Residents of Perkins, Oklahoma 
  2. FutureGen: The Stimulus Earmark that Wasn’t, Becomes the Costliest Pork Project in History 
  3. Little-Used “Shovel-Ready” Bridges in Rural Wisconsin Given Priority Over Widely Used Structurally Deficient Bridges 
  4. $800,000 for little-used Johnstown, Pennsylvania airport to repave a back-up runway; the “Airport for Nobody” Has Already Received Tens of Millions in Taxpayer dollars 
  5. $3.4 Million for Wildlife “Eco-Passage” in Florida; Project Still May Take Years to Finish 
  6. Nevada Non-Profit Gets Weatherization Contract After Being Fired For Same Work 
  7. Non-Existent Oklahoma Lake in Line for Over $1 Million To Construct a New Guardrail 
  8. Taxpayers Taken for a Ride: Nearly $10 Million to be Spent to Renovate a Century Old Train Station that Hasn’t Been Used in 30 Years 
  9. Ten Thousand Dead People Get Stimulus Checks, Social Security Administration Blames a Tough Deadline 
  10. Town of Union, New York, Encouraged to Spend Money It Did Not Request For a Homelessness Problem It Does Not Have


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May 26, 2009

Washed Out to Sea - How Congress Prioritizes Beach Pork Over National Needs


Beach Report
Click the following link for a copy of the report: Washed Out to Sea.
 
It is no day at the beach for American taxpayers when billions of dollars worth of sand projects go out with the tide.  
 
Yet, in his new oversight report “Washed Out to Sea, How Congress Prioritizes Beach Pork Over National Needs,” Senator Tom Coburn details just how beachfront communities, D.C. lobbyists, and Members of Congress have teamed up to “save” beaches with federally funded sand – an effort that always results in additional requests for sand projects in the future.
 
While bridges and levies collapse, Congress is earmarking funds to replenish beaches, subsidizing risky flood insurance, and bailing out homeowners who chose to build their houses on sand. These efforts, ironically, have had the unintended effect of inviting more people to develop and live in flood-prone coastal areas, thus creating and sustaining a vicious cycle of development and dependency.
 
Some examples in the “Washed Out” report include:
  • A New Jersey beach project resulted in more than 1,100 World War I-era military munitions being pumped onto the beach – including some containing unexploded gun powder.



  • As of 2007, more than $2.9 billion in federal funds went to beach nourishment.
  • Congress has spent around $100 million every year since 1997 for beach replenishment projects.  In 1987, Congress spent less than $10 million on these beach projects.



  • One D.C. lobbying shop, headed by a former congressional aide, has been so successful securing earmarked beach funds for its clients — a reported $193 million for just four clients alone in one 2007 Congressional bill — its head lobbyist has been nicknamed "Sand-A-Claus.”
  • The beach at Cape May, New Jersey, was renourished 10 times between 1962 and 1995, at a total cost of $24.7 million, and a beach at Ocean City, New Jersey, was renourished 22 times between 1952 and 1995 at a total cost of more than $83.1 million.  Additional appropriations are expected.
  • Cape May beach officials have recently seen a 100 percent increase in serious spinal cord injuries, 22 in 2008 alone, that they attribute to the beach replenishment projects leaving a steep drop off, instead of the previous gentle decline, when the dredged sand erodes.  (link)
  • One 2004 nourishment project in Port St. Lucie, Florida, resulted in sand that concretized when it became dry, trapping sea turtle hatchlings beneath the surface. The sand had to be removed from the beach in 2006.
  • Not even one year after a 2007 beach nourishment project in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, the mayor declared the project ineffective.
  • One Westhampton, New York beach project had already cost federal taxpayers $24 million in studies as of 2004, and was projected to cost $800 million, before the local city council scrapped it altogether in 2006. The beneficiaries of the initial federal investment: primarily multi-million dollar properties on the barrier island’s primary dunes that had repeatedly been flooded or damaged by storms, yet, were always rebuilt, often with federally subsidized flood insurance.
  • Some scientists found nourished beaches disappear faster than natural beaches (two to twelve times faster by one estimate) and recover poorly after storms compared to natural beaches.
  • While Congress gold-plates beaches, at least 985 levees nationwide are at significant risk of failure due to flooding.
  • The federal government today pays up to 65 percent of the cost of these beach projects, with the remainder being paid by state or local governments.
  • Several coastal states, including Florida, New Jersey, and South Carolina have a state fund for beach nourishment yet, coastal communities within these states continue to request federal funds for beach nourishment.
  • If Congress stopped beach nourishment projects tomorrow, taxpayers would save $431 million over the next five years.  (link) 
  • Today more Americans than ever before live in flood-prone regions, which drives up individual risk and increases the stress on the flood insurance program.  In 2008, 153 million people lived in coastal counties, an increase of 33 million since 1980.
  • Because more people live in flood prone areas, federal flood disasters assistance has increased almost ten-fold.  From 1995 to 2004 $3.75 billion per year was spent on disaster assistance for emergency flood response operations and subsequent long-term recovery efforts.
Congress must prioritize limited infrastructure funds more effectively.  While maintaining beaches and attracting tourists and retirees may be a priority for coastal communities, Congress cannot and should not subsidize people’s vacations and coastal living preferences when national infrastructure needs remain unaddressed.


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April 22, 2009

Eliminating Waste and Fraud in Medicare and Medicaid

Opening Statement of Sen. Tom Coburn at FFM Hearing


As our nation prepares for a historic debate over the direction of health care policy, hearings on waste and fraud in Medicare and Medicaid are vitally important. They provide an opportunity to improve these enormous federal programs and play a vital role in giving us a glimpse under the hood of government-run health care. Unfortunately, what we find is that we need a new mechanic.

If this seems like an exaggeration, look no further than the plans being offered to expand health care coverage simply by enlarging Medicare and Medicaid. Serious proposals coming out of the White House and Congress aim to use these programs as a jumping off point for increasing the reach of federal health insurance. Before this nation takes that giant step, it should have all of the facts.

Consider the fact that Medicare costs consumed 3.2 percent of the entire U.S. GDP in 2007 to cover nearly 40 million older Americans. And yet, even this is not enough to cover the program’s costs – the Medicare Trust Fund is projected to go bankrupt as soon 2016. It is easy to imagine that adding tens of millions of additional beneficiaries to the Medicare program would only hasten the coming insolvency.

Making Medicare an even less attractive model for nationalized health care is that the program is rife with fraud, waste and abuse. According to some estimates, the annual amount of fraudulent payments made by Medicare approaches $60 billion. That is a staggering $500 per year per family in this country. As one who treats patients in the lowest income brackets, I know first-hand how valuable that amount of money could be. By failing to eliminate waste and fraud, we are robbing these same people of opportunity.

Since 1990, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has designated the Medicare program as high-risk because of its size, complexity, and vulnerability to mismanagement and improper payments. Last summer, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations conducted an investigation and found that close to $100 million had been paid for claims that used the identification numbers of physicians that had died at least two years before the claims were filed.

In another example, a 2008 investigation by the inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services found that a woman operating out of her townhome submitted more than $170 million worth of fake claims to Medicare, of which more than $100 million was paid out. While the sheer size of her scheme led to her downfall, there are thousands of such cases every year on a smaller scale.

Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been paid by Medicare to companies who submitted claims for medical equipment they never provided, didn’t exist at the addresses listed, or providing supplies and equipment to patients who didn’t need them for any medical reason. These are just a few of the identified problems with Medicare.

Turning to Medicaid, the outlook is even worse. The current cost of the program is more than $333 billion annually. However, Medicaid’s costs are growing by eight percent a year, a pace that will cause costs to explode to more than $670 billion by 2017. That is a doubling of the cost in only eight years.

One of the more disturbing findings about the Medicaid budget according to HHS is that the improper payment rate is above ten percent – triple the government-wide average. In New York the problem is even worse, with improper payments reaching an estimated 40 percent of the state program budget.

As a member of this subcommittee, and as ranking member on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, I plan on taking an active role in rooting out waste and fraud in these programs.

Unfortunately, until we put market discipline into the health care system, waste and fraud will continue to be a reality in Medicare and Medicaid. Our health care system is in dire need of a tune up. That's why I am glad to tell you that in the very near future I will be offering a comprehensive health care reform bill which saves us billions of dollars, harnesses market forces, and puts patients first.

I appreciate the witnesses who have joined us today, and look forward to their testimony.





January 16, 2009

Senator Coburn questions Secretary of State nominee Hillary Clinton

Will you permit the UNDP to undermine U.S. interests and international security?


Senator Tom Coburn sent a letter to President-elect Obama's nominee to be the next Secretary of State, Senator Hillary Clinton. The letter raises serious U.S. national security concerns about continuing to conduct U.S. foreign policy through the U.N. Development Program (UNDP). The UNDP, according to State Department and Senate investigations, is a textbook example of the inherent dangers of conducting U.S. foreign policy and foreign aid through the United Nations, which has no accountability, no transparency, and is exempt from the rule of law.

The investigations made several alarming findings. UNDP programs in North Korea suffered from serious managerial deficiencies that resulted in such things as the diversion of aid funds to enrich the North Korean regime, which in turn used UNDP to smuggle money out of North Korea to escape sanctions and enable illicit weapons manufacturing and selling. It is reported in the press that North Korean missile parts were sold to Iran as recently as August 2008, despite the United States’ removal of North Korea from the terror list.

To learn more about this issue, click the link to the letter below or visit the U.N. Watch: the U.N. Development Program section of this website.



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December 12, 2008

2008: Worst Waste of the Year

A Look Back Through Some of the Year's Most Outrageous Federal Spending


2008: The Worst Waste of the Year Report

With billions of taxpayer dollars spent on low-priority and questionable projects, 2008 was a banner year for wasteful Washington spending. 2008: The Worst Waste of the Year highlights more than $1 billion in taxpayer funding that Washington bureaucrats and politicians wasted on everything from an inflatable alligator to training for casino workers to an unsuccessful search for Alaskan ice worms and extraterrestrial life forms.

Unfortunately, this irresponsible spending by Congress comes at a time when our country faces significant challenges that must be addressed. Often, scarce taxpayer funding has been squandered on low-priority parochial projects, siphoning money from crucial issues that have been ignored.

For example, even as Louisiana continues to rebuild its levees following the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Congress has made sure one priority project stays on track: a bike path along the Mississippi River levee. A $1 million grant was awarded by the Federal Highway Administration – out of a fund set aside for road and bridge projects – to lengthen a bike path from downtown Baton Rouge to the campus of Louisiana State University.

Here are just a few of the more than 60 examples of wasteful Washington spending outlined in 2008: The Worst Waste of the Year.

  • $2.4 million for a 3-D space theater in Indiana
  • $2.8 million for a visitor center for a national fish Hatchery in Missouri
  • $100,000 for studying American and Chinese video game habits
  • $9,000 for an airplane-shaped non-operational gas station in Tennessee
  • $298,068 for specialty potatoes for high-end restaurants
  • $82 million in small business loans to liquor stores


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November 18, 2008

Senator Coburn requests copy of report critical of U.S. broadcasts in Arabic

Report suppressed since July


Alhurra studios.

Senator Tom Coburn (OK-R) sent a letter to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) requesting un-redacted copies of studies said to be critical of taxpayer funded broadcasts in Arabic by Alhurra. The BBG is an independent agency that manages all U.S. international broadcasting including Alhurra, Voice of America, and Radio Free Asia.

The BBG has come under increased scrutiny due to a number of tax funded broadcasts providing unchallenged platforms to terrorists and other individuals hostile to U.S. policies (click here for examples and transcripts). The agency commissioned studies of its Arabic broadcasting in response, but it has so far refused to make the results public even though they were completed in July.



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October 9, 2008

U.S. public diplomacy programs continue use of Muslim Brotherhood affiliates

State Department responds to concerns against funding Islamists


On July 30, 2008, Senators Tom Coburn and Jon Kyl sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking her to stop funding affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists tasked to wage a "Civilization-Jihadist Process" to "destroy Western Civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands" (pg 21 of Muslim Brotherhood Memorandum: “On the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America").

In a August 20th response letter, the State Department provided no indication that it would cease funding Islamists groups to carry out U.S. public diplomacy programs. These programs, managed by State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, are meant to invest in relationships with Muslim clerics in Muslim countries so they are more likely to preach positively about America and Americans. Grantees and subgrantees currently used by the Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs to carry out these programs include the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and a leader of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists of North America (AMSS). Both organizations are identified by the Muslim Brotherhood as its U.S. affiliates, and both organizations are tasked by the Muslim Brotherhood with destroying Western Civilization in North America.

According to testimony from Zeyno Baran, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and witness for a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on violent Islamist extremism held in July, ISNA and AMSS are not appropriate organizations to carry out these programs.

ISNA has been named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the ongoing Holy Land Foundation trial. Both of these groups have direct and indirect ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a political Islamist network that considers Islam a “civilization alternative” to America (and to liberal democracy in general), and is thus fundamentally anti-American. The Muslim Brotherhood’s mission statement is "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur'an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope”. Hamas is a wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.

It is not possible for groups founded to further the goals and messages of the Muslim Brotherhood to convey instead the kind of messages the State Department would wish to be conveyed. Ultimately, it is likely that these groups would take advantage of such programs to further expand their own international networks. In short, the money of American taxpayers will not benefit American interests in the hands of groups affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Congress provides State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with over $500 million annually to carry out its programs.

 

 

 

 



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July 31, 2008

U.S. Spending $470,000+ to Send 116 Federal Employees to Mexico City AIDS Conference

Funds Could Have Been Used to Eliminate a U.S. Waiting List for AIDS Drugs or to Prevent Over 59,000 Newborns from Becoming Infected with HIV


Mexico City AIDS Conference Logo
At least 116 U.S. federal employees will join 22,000 people attending this week’s International AIDS Conference in Mexico City.
 
Taxpayers will contribute almost a half-a-million dollars to the event, an amount that could have been spent to provide life-saving medication to every American on a waiting list for AIDS drugs or to prevent over 50,000 newborns from becoming infected with HIV.
 
Click the following link for a copy of the Senate oversight report on the 2008 International AIDS Conference.
 
In addition to some scientific and scholarly workshops, the event will feature a “Sex Workers Mini Film Festival,” and a session led by a pro-prostitution group that brags of being “proud” of its work and proud to bring in “lots of tourist dollars” for Thailand. There will also be a workshop on the “Sexy Life” after HIV infection and one entitled “Good Catholics Use Condoms: How to Answer the Tough Questions Surrounding HIV/AIDS Prevention and Religion,” which will be moderated by a woman whose D.C.-based group favors legalized abortion, gay marriage, and contraception  — all positions opposed by the Catholic Church.
 
Among the attendees will be at least 116 federal employees from the:
 
·                National Institutes for Health (NIH),
·                Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
·                Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA),
·                Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
·                U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),
·                Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC), ),
·                Department of Defense (DOD),
·                Census Bureau, and
·                Peace Corps.
 
All told, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will spend $360,500 on the following:
 
·                 $165,000 for hotel and per diem costs;
·                 $100,000 for registration;
·                 $86,000 for airfare from DC, Atlanta, and overseas locations; and
·                 $9,500 for a U.S. government-wide booth
 
The XVII International AIDS Conference occurring this week in Mexico City, Mexico, is organized by the International AIDS Society and is expected to cost $25 million and attract 22,000 conference-goers.  It will cost U.S. taxpayers at least $473,095 to send the planned delegation of over 100 government employees to this single conference, according to figures collected and published in a report by the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security minority staff.
 
Senator Tom Coburn, a practicing physician who has cared for patients living with HIV/AIDS, and ranking member of the Senate Federal Financial Management subcommittee issued the report and stated, “This is a simple question of priorities when it comes to addressing HIV/AIDS—talk or treatment?  Conference or care?  While the waiting list for federal employees to attend the AIDS conference may now exceed the waiting list for patients seeking AIDS drugs, most taxpayers would probably agree that providing life saving treatment to 35 of their fellow Americans is a better expenditure of funds than paying to send 114 government employees on a trip to Mexico.  No one will die from not being able to attend a conference, but the same is not true for those who are living with HIV/AIDS and can not access treatment.”
 
Dr. Coburn encourages anyone who has examples of government waste to submit the information to his Web site tip line.
Or by mail to his subcommittee office:

Senator Tom Coburn, M.D.
Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security
340 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Tipsters may remain anonymous.
 


Major Findings:

 

Impact on Taxpayers:

 

These Findings Demand a Response:

 

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July 30, 2008

Senators Coburn and Kyl call for the State Department to stop funding Islamists


Senators Tom Coburn (OK-R) and Jon Kyl (AZ-R) sent a letter to Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, asking her to stop funding entities in the Muslim Brotherhood's U.S. network including the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS). According to a Muslim Brotherhood memorandum recently submitted as evidence in a terror financing trial, the Muslim Brotherhood considers ISNA and AMSS part of its U.S. network to carry out a “civilization jihadist process” that includes “eliminating and destroying the Western Civilization” in the U.S.

In December 2007, a grant of nearly $500,000 was awarded by the U.S. State Department to the University of Delaware which employs a leader of the AMSS, Muqtedar Khan, to manage the grant.   The grant is meant to foster dialogue between the U.S. and clerics in Muslim countries.  In 2006 and 2007, the National Peace Foundation received State Department grants of $466,000 and $499,999 to conduct similar programs in partnership with ISNA.



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June 4, 2008

Senator Coburn calls for U.N. head of Food and Agriculture Organization to resign

Attention-starved dictators are invited guests at U.S.-funded conference on world hunger


Mugabe "feeding" program

Senator Tom Coburn sent letters to the Secretary of State, Secretary of Agriculture, and the Administrator of USAID requesting all taxpayer support of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) be terminated until its director general, Jacques Diouf, resigns. Diouf made a mockery of the 2008 World Food Summit by inviting Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to participate. Both men are responsible for the misery and starvation of millions.

 

Key Facts:

  • Taxpayers fund the FAO over $100 million annually from member dues and additional, voluntary contributions.
  • The 2008 World Food Summit in Rome is being attended by dozens of U.S. government employees from the Department of State, Department of Agriculture and USAID.


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April 10, 2008

Senator Coburn seeks transparency with World Bank and U.N. programs in Iran


Senator Tom Coburn sent a letter to Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, Henry Paulson, requesting information regarding licenses and other documents the Treasury Department has for World Bank and United Nations programs in Iran. Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism and is under U.S. and international sanctions. Reports suggest World Bank and U.N. programs in Iran violate U.S. law, but due to both institutions refusing basic transparency requests, it is difficult to verify the reports or know whether U.S. funds are being spent as intended.

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January 30, 2008

Senators urge Secretary Rice to boycott racist U.N. conference


Terrorist supporters at the U.N. World Conference on Racism.
In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, 27 senators encouraged the State Department to officially boycott the racist and anti-Semetic U.N. World Conference on Racism referred to as "Durban."  The executive committee for the conference is chaired by Libya, and the vice-chair is Iran, even though Iran's leaders have frequently called for the destruction of Israel while denying the Holocaust took place.

Durban's main purpose is to legitimize anti-Semetic propaganda such as the claim that Palestinians are victims of Israel's racism.  According to the letter, the conference undermines the prospects for a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.


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December 14, 2007

Senators concerned with U.N. Secretary-General undermining U.N. ethics reform


U.S. Senators Tom Coburn (OK) and Jim DeMint (SC) sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressing their concern regarding Ban’s plan to fracture the U.N. ethics and whistleblower process. Rather than order all U.N. programs to comply with U.N. ethics reforms, Ban has permitted the programs to create ad hoc ethics offices that report to the heads of the programs. The program managers may themselves be the subject of ethics investigations–hardly a recipe for an independent and credible operation.


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November 14, 2007

Senators applaud Secretary Rice’s oversight and reform agenda at U.N.


Today, U.S. Senators Tom Coburn (OK), Jon Kyl (AZ), Sam Brownback (KS), Norm Coleman (MN), David Vitter, (LA), Jim DeMint (SC), and John Ensign (WY) sent a letter to Secretary Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State, praising her leadership in seeking greater transparency, accountability, and oversight at the United Nations. The Secretary has established the U.N. Transparency and Accountability Initiative which seeks to shine light on the over $5 billion contribution made annually to the U.N. by the U.S. taxpayer with little or no information on how most of it is spent. Secretary Rice has also spearheaded the U.S. investigation into the U.N. Funds and Programs that uncovered a widely used practice at the U.N. where U.S. contributions are used to prop up dictators and regimes of terror through cash deposits and illicit military-grade technology transfers from U.N. programs such as the $5 billion U.N. Development Program.

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September 12, 2007

Dr. Coburn Requests Oversight Report on Transportation Earmarks

Report criticizes Congress’ wasteful spending.


THUD - IG says earmarks not a good use of funds

Dr. Coburn recently received a requested report from the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General that contains the following astonishing findings. Read a summary of the report, or read the full report by clicking here, and click here to read more about Dr. Coburn's amendments to the FY 2008 Transportation/HUD Appropriations bill.

REPORT FINDINGS - BRIEF SUMMARY:

Earmarks in DOT have increased in number by 1,150 percent in 10 years (1996 – 2005), with the value of earmarks in the same timeframe jumping 314 percent.

Ninety-nine percent of earmarks (7,724 out of 7,760) were not subject to the transportation agencies’ review and selection processes or bypassed the states’ normal planning and programming processes.

Earmarks may not be the most effective or efficient use of funds. The IG report identifies five ways in which earmarks impact programs in the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, and the Federal Aviation Administration, as follows (see pages 11 – 14 of the full report):

  • Earmarks can reduce funding for the states’ core transportation programs.
  • Earmarks do not always coincide with DOT strategic research goals.
  • Many low priority, earmarked projects are being funded over higher priority, non-earmarked projects.
  • Earmarks provide funds for projects that would otherwise be ineligible.
  • Earmarks can disrupt the agency’s ability to fund programs as designated when authorized funding amounts are exceeded by “overearmarking.”

Click here to see a one-page table entitled "strategic earmarks?" which identifies a series of problematic earmarks mentioned in the report.  To access the lists of specific earmarks identified in the table, browse by the type of earmark below.



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September 7, 2007

Dr. Coburn requests an Independent Review of Congressional Earmarks Within the Department of Transportation

Findings reveal over $8 billion in Congressional pet projects leaves infrastructure across country at risk


THUD - IG says earmarks not a good use of funds

Dr. Coburn requested an independent review of congressional earmarks within the Department of Transportation from the department’s Inspector General in August 2006.  Click the following link to read a summary.

Read the full report, “Review of Congressional Earmarks within Department of Transportation Programs” which was completed on September 7, 2007.

Click the following link to read about Dr. Coburn's amendments to the FY 2008 Transportation/HUD Appropriations bill.





July 3, 2007

Dr. Coburn continues to press for needed accountability for Homeland Security preparedness grant programs.


Dr. Coburn continues to press for needed accountability for Homeland Security preparedness grant programs.

S. 4, the Improving America’s Security Act of 2007, authorizes over $3 billion a year for the next three years (and such sums as determined necessary each year thereafter) in homeland security disaster preparedness and interoperability grants.

S.4 contains comprehensive auditing provisions authored by Sen. Coburn during the Senate committee mark-up process in response to an onslaught of scandals, inspector general and Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) findings and press reports about financial improprieties using preparedness and disaster grant funds, including funding going to yoga classes, puppet shows, credit card fraud, football tickets, divorce lawyers, sex change operations, and more. Dr. Coburn’s audit requirements in S.4 extend to preparedness grant programs, not public assistance administered under the Stafford Act. Dr. Coburn is working to keep the audit language in the bill as it moves through the conference process. Click on the following link to read why "Accountability in DHS Preparedness Grants Needed Now."

In February 2007, Dr. Coburn pushed the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs for greater transparency, better financial controls and minimum performance standards for homeland security programs. Click here for details on the votes and the Coburn amendments at the 2/15/07 Homeland Security Governmental Affairs Senate Committee Business Meeting considering the "9/11 Commission" bill.





June 28, 2007

House and Senate members request investigation into bias and censorship at tax-funded PBS


PBS
Senator Tom Coburn, together with Senators Jon Kyl and James Inhofe and Representatives Trent Franks, Peter Hoekstra, and Peter King sent a letter to Kenneth Konz, Inspector General for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Members from both houses of Congress are concerned about alleged ideological bias, conflict of interest, and censorship that prevented a documentary which received a taxpayer-funded $675,000 grant from airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

The film, "Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center,” was meant to be part of the PBS 11-part series, America at a Crossroads, which examined the challenges confronting the post-9/11 world. There are initial reports that indicate the censorship of this film is related to conflicts of interest and in some cases sympathy to Islamist groups or apologists from among PBS officials and series consultants.


Key Facts:
  • The film "Islam vs. Islamists" was censored by PBS despite being funded by taxpayers with a $675,000 grant.
  • The Corporation for Public Broadcasting receives $400 million from taxpayers each year which it uses to fund over 1,100 public television and radio stations.


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June 18, 2007

Government Reports Huge Surplus of Unneeded Federal Property

Report Highlights Need for Legislative Change


A report (attached below) was released on Friday, June 15, by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) demonstrating for the first time how much unneeded property is being held by the government.  When all properties eligible for disposal under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program are excluded, the government is still holding more than 21,000 properties it doesn't need, all valued at $18 billion.

The report came in response to an amendment offered by Sen. Coburn to the Federal and District of Columbia Government Real Property Act of 2006.  The amendment, section 408 of the bill, required that OMB report to Congress on 1) the number of excess or surplus properties in the federal government, and 2) a list of 100 properties most eligible for sale. 

A hearing of the Federal Financial Management Subcommittee on May 24 demonstrated that the process for disposing of unneeded property is hampered by burdensome rules and regulations.  Many problems have arisen from the complicated requirements established by Congress, demonstrating that a legislative fix in this area is essential.  In response to this problem, Sen. Coburn, along with Sen. Tom Carper, plan on introducing legislation to help eliminate this large and costly backlog.




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June 12, 2007

CDC Off Center - Dr. Coburn issues 100+ page oversight report on public health agency

The First in a Series of Oversight Reports on Federal Agencies


Centers for Disease Control - Off Center?

Click the following link for a copy of the report, "CDC Off Center"

“CDC Off Center,” a 115-page oversight report authored by the Minority Office of the Federal Financial Management Subcommittee, under the direction of ranking member Senator Tom Coburn, examines how CDC has tilted off center and makes recommendations about how it might get back on track.

The American people expect CDC to spend its $10 billion budget this year treating and preventing diseases and dealing with public safety threats, including the threat of bioterrorism. While CDC will meet some of those expectations, if history is any guide, it will also waste millions of dollars.

As part of his commitment to oversight of how Washington spends taxpayer dollars, Senator Coburn plans to release a series of oversight reports on federal agencies. Senator Coburn’s hope is that more and better oversight will assist federal agencies and those in Congress with responsibility for overseeing agency budgets, with reigning in wasteful spending; demanding measurable results from programs and grantees; and with reevaluating current spending before asking politicians and taxpayers to send more scarce tax dollars.

“CDC Off Center” is not an effort to discredit the good work that the CDC and those who work for it have carried out and the good work that will continue in the future. The report will hopefully be seen for what it is: an effort to shine some light on prevention efforts and funding decisions that may be holding the agency back from fulfilling its central mission of fighting and controlling disease.

Some examples in the report of CDC’s spending:

  • $1.7 million — including terrorism funds — on a Hollywood liaison program, which happens to be run by a former employee (pg. 87);
  • $45 million for conferences, including those featuring prostitutes, protests, and beach parties (pgs. 48 - 60);
  • $30,000 employee saunas in a new $200,000 fitness center that also includes mood-enhancing lightshows and $3,500 worth of zero-gravity chairs (pg. 15);
  • $5 billion spent over seven years on HIV/AIDS prevention funding, and yet the U.S. still sees 40,000 new cases each year, with no decrease in infection rates for over a decade (pgs. 23-37);
  • Syphilis prevention funds used to feature a porn star’s presentation (pg. 44);
  • HIV/AIDS prevention funds spent on a transgender beauty pageant (pg. 45);
  • $250,000 spent so two former employees could help build staff morale, (pgs. 100 - 101);
  • $5.1 million on “audio visual integration” in the new Thomas R. Harkin communications and visitor center, including a giant 70-foot-wide by 25-foot-tall video wall of rear-projection and plasma television screens showcasing agency vignettes (pg. 8);
  • 110 CDC employees traveled to two international AIDS conferences, when buying retroviral drugs with the trip funds could have prevented mother-to-child AIDS transmission for more than 115,000 infants (pgs. 50 & 52);
  • New Hawaii office opening soon, announcement made by Senator from Hawaii who oversees agency’s funding (pg. 18);
  • $335 million on ads to fight childhood obesity… kids saw the ads, whether or not the ads affected their behavior is another question (pgs. 69 - 71);
  • $128,000 in CDC bioterrorism funds spent by L.A. County on trinkets such as letter openers, whistles, magnets, mouse pads, flashlights, pens, and travel toothbrushes (pgs. 106 - 110).

The report also includes:

  • A detailed graph showing CDC’s yearly budget from 1995-2007, which has increased by more than 350% (pg. 7); and
  • A chart showing yearly CDC’s HIV/AIDS funding from 2001-2007, which has more than doubled during that time (pg. 115).

Do you know of examples of government waste, fraud or abuse? Submit the information to FFM's website tip page, or by mail to:

Senator Tom Coburn
Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security
340 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510




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June 12, 2007

Dr. Coburn Urges Under Secretary General Barcena to Promote Real Transparency at the U.N.


Dr. Coburn sent a letter today to the United Nations Under Secretary General for Management, Alicia Barcena, that calls for legitimate accountability and transparency of the United Nations’ $2 billion plus renovation, and throughout the entire U.N. system.

In response to comments made by Dr. Coburn at a recent lecture at the American Enterprise Institute, Under Secretary General Barcena wrote a letter that appeared in the June 9th, 2007 edition of the Washington Times. Today's letter from Dr. Coburn to the Under Secretary General presents the U.N. a better understanding of why taxpayers in free and open societies demand accountability for their over $20 billion investment in the United Nations.


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May 30, 2007

Dr. Coburn writes HHS about HIV/AIDS mismanagement in Puerto Rico


Dr. Coburn sent a letter to HHS Secretary Leavitt regarding the ongoing mismanagement of federal AIDS dollars in Puerto Rico that threatens the delivery of care and treatment to hundreds of patients living with HIV/AIDS.

Click here to read more about the issue in USA Today.




April 10, 2007

Oyster - the Pork of the Sea? Dr. Coburn writes NOAA on Oyster rescue project regarding possible misuse of taxpayer dollars.


Oyster Rescue? $10 million in federal funds = profits of $30 a barrel

Senator Coburn sent a letter to the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) regarding the alleged misuse of federal funds by the Oyster Recovery Partnership in Maryland as recently reported in the Baltimore Sun.

For more information on the Oyster rescue project, and a copy of Dr. Coburn's letter, please see below.

 



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February 9, 2007

Dr. Coburn's letter to President: U.S. International Broadcasting "harming American interests rather than helping"


Today Senator Coburn sent a letter to the President regarding Voice of America (VOA) Persian Service, U.S. broadcasting to Iran.  Referencing the English transcript of VOA coverage of the President's State of the Union address, Dr. Coburn illustrates how VOA failed to provide Iranians a clear and effective presentation of U.S. foreign policy but provided another platform for its critics.  In a July 2006 hearing on U.S. Iran policy chaired by Dr. Coburn, a leading Iranian student leader who had recently escaped imprisonment in Iran testified that U.S. broadcasts do more to undermine U.S. interests than help it.  As Dr. Coburn investigated the content of U.S. international broadcasting, he found evidence that broadcasts to Iran give a significant amount of airtime to guests and content that undermine U.S. policy, often even supporting the propaganda of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In the letter, Dr. Coburn references similar problems in other broadcasting services and urges the President to pursue management and accountability reforms at the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

 

 

 



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January 31, 2007

Dr. Coburn calls on Treasury to respond to questions on World Bank oversight


In August 2006, Dr. Coburn asked the Department of Treasury to take accountability for reports of medical malpractice in the World Bank's malaria program. Click here for more details and a copy of the August 3 letter.

Six months later, Dr. Coburn again asked the Department of Treasury to respond. Click here for a copy of Dr. Coburn's January 31, 2007 letter to Treasury.

Update: On Thursday, February 1, 2007, Treasury sent a belated response to Dr. Coburn's request. Click here to read the response.

Related Oversight Action: January 30, 2007 - Dr. Coburn Condemns World Bank's Continued Lack of Transparency in Malaria Programs





 


Senator Tom Coburn

172 Russell Senate Office Bldg.     Washington, DC 20510

Phone: 202-224-5754     Fax: 202-224-6008

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