The Senate will consider the 4 divisions of Coburn amendment #3303 under four separate votes, as follows: 1. Division I: Directs the Government Accountability Office to annually identify federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives with duplicative goals and activities, to estimate the cost of such duplication, and to make recommendations for consolidation and elimination of such duplication; 2. Division II: Cut Congress’s budget by $245 million (which would return Congressional spending to Fiscal Year 2009 levels); 3. Divisions III-XV: Repeal excessive overhead, eliminates wasteful spending, and consolidates duplicative programs within the federal bureaucracy, excluding the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs (estimated savings of nearly $22 billion); 4. Division XVI: Cancel the expenditure of federal funds that have been unspent for all least two years and are not obligated for any purposes (savings of over $100 billion). Each division requires 60 votes for passage. Dr. Coburn will speak up to 15 minutes followed by votes on each of the four divisions.
While the Senate debates legislation to increase the national debt, Dr. Coburn has offered an amendment to stop the debt increase and immediately reduce federal spending. Specifically, the amendment would alleviate the need to increase the national debt by rescinding at least $120 billion by consolidating more than 640 duplicative government programs, cutting wasteful Washington spending, and returning billions of dollars of unspent money. The amendment will be debated this week and early next week. Sixty votes are required to approve the amendment. As a candidate for president in 2008, Barack Obama pledged to “spend taxpayer money wisely,” and specifically to “eliminate wasteful redundancy,” stating that “too often, federal departments take on functions or services that are already being done or could be done elsewhere within the federal government more effectively. The result is unnecessary redundancy and the inability of the government to benefit from economies of scale and integrated, streamlined operations.” Unfortunately, little has been done in the last year to accomplish these goals as spending and the number of new government programs have increased. Last year, Congress approved enormous increases in federal spending, an average increase of 12% across the board. Because of Congress out of control spending, the U.S. national debt increased more than $4 billion every day in the past year. While most of the country faces tough financial times and tax revenues have declined, Congress continues to approve double-digit spending increases for bloated federal agencies wrought with duplication, waste, abuse, and mismanagement of taxpayer funding. This amendment would accomplish what the president has pledged and what the American people expect by consolidating more than 640 duplicative federal programs, reducing excessive and unnecessary spending and saving approximately $120 billion. More detailed information on the various sections of the amendment can be found at the following links:
Amendment text Executive Summary Requiring GAO to identify duplicative government programs Legislative Branch Rescission Department of Agriculture Rescission Department of Commerce Rescission Department of Education Rescission Department of Energy Rescission Department of Health and Human Services Rescission Department of Homeland Security Rescission Department of Housing and Urban Development Rescission Department of Interior Rescission Department of Justice Rescission Department of Labor Rescission Department of State Rescission Department of Transportation Rescission Rescission of Unobligated Balances
Dr. Coburn and 22 other GOP Senators sent a letter this morning to Sen. Harry Reid requesting that he comply with the spirit and letter of The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007.
Click here to read the letter sent to the Majority Leader
Click here to read quotes from Senator Reid regarding the the need for a transparent government.
Coburn, along with six other senators, expressed their reservations on the nomination of Erroll Southers to lead the Transportation Security Administration in a letter to President Obama.
Click here to read the letter.
Read the entire speech here
The national debt is currently $12.1 trillion, more than $39,000 per citizen. This year’s deficit is expected to reach $1.5 trillion, which would mark the third straight record annual deficit. The Administration projects the deficit will remain above $1 trillion in 2011 and will not drop below $739 billion over the next decade. The federal government is now borrowing 43 cents for every dollar it spends. $4.8 trillion of the $9 trillion in debt the government will likely accrue over the next ten years will be interest. Retirement programs like Medicare and Social Security are on the verge of bankruptcy. Medicare is expected to run out of money and become insolvent in 2017. Social Security will permanently start running a deficit in 2016, and will no longer be able to pay retirees full benefits by 2037. Other important government programs Americans rely on nearly every day, such as the Highway Trust Fund and the U.S. Postal Service, are also spending more than they are bringing in with revenues. The economy is struggling, unemployment is at 10 percent, and inflation is near zero. Last year, family incomes fell by more than three percent. Most of the country faces tough financial times, the federal coffers are nearly empty, and yet, Congress continues to approve double-digit spending increases for bloated federal agencies wrought with waste, abuse, and mismanagement of taxpayer funding. Even more, this year Congress gave itself a 5.8 percent ($245 million) raise, far outpacing the negative growth in family budgets.
Amendment 2824 – Strikes the creation of a new $375 million government program intended to promote personal and financial responsibility. Among the new government programs created by the Senate health care bill is an initiative costing $375 million over five years intended to promote personal and financial responsibility. This government “responsibility” program duplicates existing government programs, adds hundreds of millions of dollars to the national debt, and creates perverse financial incentives for states to encourage abortion to receive additional federal funds. In short, there is nothing responsible about the new responsibility program. This amendment would strike the new program and save $375 million. For further background click here.
Amendment 2969 – Requires Members of Congress, the President, and their staffs to be enrolled in the new government run public health insurance option. Patients currently in government run health care plans, such as Medicare and Medicaid, have limited access to care and often have poorer outcomes than many private plans. Members of Congress, who have created these public health plans for other Americans, have given themselves more than ten private health insurance plans from which to choose. As a result, they do not understand or experience firsthand the frustration and limitations on care faced by those in public plans. This amendment would mandate that members of Congress, the President, and their political advisors and staff be enrolled in the public option in states that have one and in the exchange in states that opt out of the public option. This will ensure that those in Washington managing health care decisions for millions of Americans would have the very same standard of care. For additional background click here.
Amendment 2967 – To ensure health care providers are not forced to participate in abortions or discriminated against because they choose not to perform abortions. It is important that this health care bill not use the force of the federal government to require health care providers to violate their deeply held moral, ethical or religious beliefs or discriminate against them because they choose to exercise their consciences and not be involved with abortion. This amendment would protect health care providers from being required or coerced to perform abortions. For additional background click here.
Amendment 2966 – To reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs and to protect Medicare benefits and services provided to America’s seniors. The majority’s bill cuts $464 billion from Medicare – even though the Administration’s own actuary said this level of cuts could bankrupt hospitals and threaten patient care – and only generates less than $2 billion from reducing waste fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. There is an estimated $100 billion in Medicaid and Medicare waste, fraud, and abuse each year. Technologies exist which would capture these taxpayer dollars before they go out and payment. Implementing these technologies could increase Medicare and Medicaid’s financial sustainability and improve return on investment for taxpayers. This amendment replaces the draconian Medicare cuts with the same kinds of technologies companies use in the private sector to prevent credit card fraud. For additional background information click here.
Amendment 2965 – To require the certification of Medicare and Medicaid’s fiscal solvency and financial sustainability before any provision of the majority’s health bill shall take effect.This amendment simply requires the Actuary of the Social Security Administration and of the Department of Health and Human Services to certify to Congress that the provisions of this act – including the insurance cooperatives, the massive new entitlement program through Exchanges, the heavy handed insurance mandates, and the public plan – have no effect unless they can first certify that Medicare and Medicaid are fiscal solvent and financially sustainable. Click here for additional background.
Amendment 2964: To ensure that government health care rationing does not harm, injure, or deny medically necessary care or endorse the taking of life as a form of health care. This amendment also ensures the federal government will not ration end of life care, and that no taxpayer dollars will be used to pay for assisted suicide and euthanasia. For additional background click here.
Amendment 2825: Bureaucrat Limitation – To ensure that no provisions in this act increase the size of government bureaucracies in Washington, D.C. This amendment requires that for each government bureaucrat added to a government agency as a result of this act, there must be a corresponding decrease in a government bureaucrat at that agency. Click here for additional background.
The Senate will soon debate S. 1963, the Caregiver and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act. The bill contains many provisions regarding caregiver assistance, rural health care for veterans, construction of VA facilities, and several pilot programs. However, the issue that has garnered the most attention is the caregiver assistance. S.1963 creates a new VA program that provides caregivers of severely disabled wartime veterans the following new benefits. Typically the VA does not provide benefits for non-veterans, this program would be an exception to that. This bill proposes • monthly stipends for caregivers of disabled wartime veterans (CBO estimates around $2300 per month maximum) • health coverage for caregivers (if they do not have health insurance) • travel benefits for caregivers (lodging and per diem when taking veterans to VA hospitals) • training for caregivers to provide proper medical care and assistance However, S.1963 as written only provides benefits to veterans injured after September 11, 2001. Also, the bill does not identify a source of funding to pay for the increased spending. Dr. Coburn’s amendment opens the eligibility for this program to ALL veterans who are severely disabled from wartime service. He also directs that the Secretary of State should transfer funding out of the U.S. contribution to the United Nations to the VA to pay for this program. If Dr. Coburn’s amendment is not adopted, and S.1963 becomes law, it will exclude a large number of severely disabled wartime veterans from these benefits, maintain funding for the UN, and increase the already massive national debt.
Background on Coburn's U.N. funding offset amendment here.
Background on the Caregiver and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act here.
For additional information click here.
Majority’s Health Bill Empowers Government Task Force At Center of Mammogram Controversy: click here to see the facts.
Joint Committee on Taxation analysis here
Major CBO Caveats to Cost Containment here
Facts about S. 1963 – Caregiver and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act
1. Dr. Coburn is NOT opposing the veterans caregiver bill, he merely wants to debate and amend the legislation to improve it.
2. The veteran caregiver bill currently discriminates against Vietnam veterans, Gulf War I veterans, and World War II veterans.
3. The veteran caregiver bill duplicates an existing program that has been providing benefits for decades to veterans to take care of themselves in their homes rather than nursing homes or hospitals.
4. Unlike the veteran caregiver bill, Dr. Coburn’s amendment increases benefits for all veterans, and reduces wasteful spending in order to guarantee that veterans today and in the future will receive the benefits they have earned, including these new caregiver benefits.
Click here for additional background.
Oklahoma veterans agree with Coburn on vet bill. Read more here
Background on the Senate's motion to recommit here.
Background on requiring all reports to be publicized here.
Coburn's suggested offsets for the additional spending in the bill.
Dr. Coburn's letter to the Republican leader.
Total Spending $67.49 billion This is a $7.59 billion (12.68%) increase over the FY 2009 regular order appropriations level of $59.89 billion. The FY 2009 level of $59.89 billion was a 15.5% increase over the FY 2008 level of $51.8 billion In FY 2009, programs under the CJS bill received $16.2 billion in Stimulus funding. Department of Commerce The bill provides $14.04 billion for the Department of Commerce. This is a 51.6% increase over the FY 2009 level of $9.26 billion. A large part of this increase is because the Census receives a $4.2 billion (134%) increase. If you assume level funding for the Census (obviously not the case, but just if you assume that), the rest of the Department of Commerce receives a 6.4% increase over FY 2009. In FY 2009, Commerce also received $7.9 billion in Stimulus/emergency funding. Given that in FY 2009, the Department received $9.26 billion as its annual appropriation, and this year that figure is $14.04 billion, they have rolled a large part of the “one-time” Stimulus funding into the baseline for the Department. Department of Justice The bill provides $27.38 billion for the Department of Justice, which is $1.29 billion more than the FY 2009 enacted level (an increase of 4.98 percent). In FY 2009, DoJ also received $4.2 billion in Stimulus/emergency funding. Science Funding (NSF, NSAS, Office of Science and Technology) Total science funding in the bill is $25.6 billion. This is up $1.33 billion (5.5%) over last year. In FY 2009, these science programs also received an additional $4 billion in Stimulus/supplemental funding. Earmarks 561 earmarks costing $370.8 million. Coburn Amendments:
Amendment: 2631: Prohibit the National Science Foundation from wasting federal research funding on political science projects.
The National Science Foundation (which receives a 6.6% increase in this bill over last year) spent $91.3 million over the last 10 years on political “science.” The purpose of this amendment is not to restrict science, but rather to better focus scarce basic research dollars on the important scientific endeavors that can expand our knowledge of true science and yield breakthroughs and discoveries that can improve the human condition. Click here for additional background.
Amendment 2632: To make all reports authorized in the bill public. This amendment would require all reports authorized by this appropriations bill to be publicized on the Website of the federal agency who is either conducting the report or being reviewed in the report. The only exceptions are for reports that contain classified or proprietary information. This amendment was unanimously adopted to the E&W, Interior, DOD, and T-HUD appropriations bills and was developed with the help of the appropriations committee. Click here for additional background.
Amendment 2667: Prioritizing excess construction funds for the Inspector General’s Office. While the House version of the CJS appropriations bill includes the same amount as last year for the renovation of the Herbert C. Hoover Department of Commerce building (HCHB) - $5 million – the Senate and the Administration have recommended a 350 percent increase ($17.5 million increase) in spending in a down economy for a variety of improvements, including historic restoration and new bicycle racks. This amendment would shift $5 million in funding from the Hoover Department of Commerce building to the Inspector General’s office of the Commerce to help them address what the Senate Committee referred to as “a culture within many agencies [funded in CJS] that exhibits a lack of accountability and oversight of grant funding.” Click here for additional background.
2010 Defense Appropriations Background:
HR 3326 appropriates $497.6 billion for Department of Defense (DoD) base budget and $128.2 billion for war costs. Combined, the bill appropriates $625.8 billion, which is $3.9 billion below the President’s request. This amount represents half of all discretionary government spending for FY2010 ($1.25 trillion). The bill includes 778 earmarks costing $2.65 billion.
Dr. Coburn's Amendments:
Amendment number 2569 — To restore $294 million in operations and maintenance funding to members of the Armed Forces to prepare for and conduct combat operations by accounting for the August 2009 Congressional Budget Office economic assumptions and reducing funding for low-priority research and development earmarks. Click here for additional background. Operation and Maintenance funds are directly related to military readiness because it provides funds for training troops for combat and for maintaining tanks, airplanes, ships, and related equipment such as the purchase of spare parts. O&M accounts also fund a wide range of activities such as civilian personnel management and payments, transportation expenses, health care, and child care. President Obama requested $156.4 billion in operation and maintenance funds for FY2010. However, the Senate Appropriations Committee cut $2.4 billion from this request for operations and maintenance in order to fund other priorities such as earmarks. $294 million of this cut was due to “revised economic assumptions” based on out-of-date inflation information. Operations and Maintenance appropriations are critically important as they are the only appropriated funds that unit commanders (battalion and squadron commanders, ship captains, etc) can spend easily. Other funds such as military personnel, procurement, research and development, and military construction accounts are spent at the highest levels of the military command leadership. This amendment restores $294 million to Operations and Maintenance funding accounts by striking the part of Section 8091 that the bill reduces operations and maintenance funding. The amendment is offset by reducing overall spending in Research, Development, Test and Evaluation funding by the same amount ($294 million). Research and development accounts are the source for the majority of earmarks in the Department of Defense appropriations bill. Out of 778 earmarks, 588 are research and development earmarks. Out of $2.6 billion in earmarks, $1.9 billion is for research and development earmarks. Amendment number 2566 — To restore over $165 million in operations and maintenance funding to members of the Armed Forces to prepare for and conduct combat operations by prohibiting funding of earmarks from operations and maintenance accounts. Click here for additional background. Operation and Maintenance funds are directly related to military readiness because it provides funds for training troops for combat and for maintaining tanks, airplanes, ships, and related equipment such as the purchase of spare parts. O&M accounts also fund a wide range of activities such as civilian personnel management and payments, transportation expenses, health care, and child care. President Obama requested $156.4 billion in operation and maintenance funds for FY2010. However, the Senate Appropriations Committee earmarked over $165 million from this request for operations and maintenance in order to fund earmarks. This amendment restores $165 million to Operations and Maintenance funding accounts by prohibiting spending on the congressionally directed spending items from Title II (Operation and Maintenance). Amendment 2563— To require all reports authorized in this bill be publicized and accessible to the public once completed This amendment requires that all reports required to be submitted by a federal agency within this act be posted on the public Website of that agency for all Americans and Members of Congress to see. The only exception to this is for reports that contain classified or proprietary information. This amendment was unanimously adopted as an amendment to the Energy and Water Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2010 (H.R. 3183), the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2010 (H.R. 3288) and the Interior Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2010 (H.R. 2996). By passing this amendment to the Department of Defense appropriations bill, Congress will increase transparency of the both the legislative and administrative process and give Americans the opportunity to be more involved in holding their elected officials accountable. Click here for additional background. Amendment 2565 — To require the National Guard and Reserve Component to submit their modernization priorities to the entire Congress, and seek input from Secretary of Defense Gates The Appropriations committee recommends an addition of $1.5 billion for procurement of National Guard and Reserve Equipment. This is $1.5 billion above the amounts already appropriated for procurement of weapon systems for all the military departments ($108 billion) included in the President's Budget request. The National Guard is not required by the bill to show their list of funding priorities to the Secretary of Defense. This amendment would require that the National Guard and Reserve component commanders submit their modernization priority lists to Secretary Gates for review. Secretary Gates will note the report with approval or disapproval before it is sent to the entire Congress. This will ensure increased transparency of the additional $1.5 billion provided to the National Guard in this legislation. Click here for additional background.
