Over the last couple of years, everybody knows we have faced a set of economic challenges that are almost unparalleled since going back to the Great Depression.

Thank you, Senator McCain.

The task that was set out for you was not an easy one.

The third part of it is we want you to go out and use private recovery contractors to go out and recover as much of the money that has been improperly paid, overpaid, as you can.

Let me say this: About roughly half--of the ideas of what we need to do to stop making these improper payments, about half of them, maybe half of them, have been acted on, but the rest have not.

The plan totaled some $787 billion over a couple of years, much of it in the form of tax cuts for working Americans.

Part of what we tried to do in the improper payments legislation that Senator McCain and I, Senator Collins and others, Senator Coburn, Senator McCaskill, had worked on is we said basically there are three things we wanted to be done with…

That is why over a year ago, President Obama proposed and this Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to help put Americans back to work.

I have heard estimates for improper payments for Medicare and Medicaid combined on an annual basis, estimates that go up as high as $60 billion a year, maybe even more.

The other piece of the Recovery Act (RA) was direct Federal spending for projects to help rebuild our physical and economic infrastructure while at the same time preserving jobs.

First, make sure all Federal agencies, including Medicare, all parts of Medicare, Medicaid, are reporting improper payments.

As I understand it, during this last year we stood down the recovery audit contracting activities in these five States and did a lessons learned.

But from my standpoint, my guiding principle is to make sure that HHS is as aggressive on the spectrum as they can be without crossing into lines of inequity or administrative problem.

the leadership involvement and emphasis is so critical.

we are looking for--in the Legislative Branch, we are always looking for pay-fors

So I would still get more money than Senator McCain.

I want to make sure that the way we do the census then will be a good deal different than the way we have done it this year and 10 years ago and 20 years ago and so forth.

The second piece is we want you to stop making them. We want to stop making them.