Tom Carper: “I thank the chairman. We heard, a few minutes earlier, from Senator Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the…”

“I thank the chairman. We heard, a few minutes earlier, from Senator Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee. He talked at some length about the tax gap, which some suggest may be costing our Treasury roughly $300 billion this year, last year, and next year as well. These are moneys which are believed to be owed but not being collected by the IRS. When we talk about reducing our Nation's budget deficit--something we all know we need to do--among the ways to do it is to close the tax gap. Another way to do it is to address what are called improper payments. Senator Coburn and I lead a subcommittee in Governmental Affairs and Homeland Security called the Federal Financial Management Subcommittee. We have been exploring the issue of improper payments. We have had for a number of years an improper payments law that says Federal agencies have to not continue making improper payments. We found out about 2 years ago roughly $50 billion in improper payments were made by Federal agencies--mostly overpayments, some underpayments. Unfortunately, that is just the tip of the iceberg. It turns out improper payments made for the last year have been down to about $41 billion, but it does not include the Department of Defense, it does not include improper payments made by Homeland Security, and it does not include improper payments that crop up in some other parts of our Federal Government. Senator Coburn and I have been holding hearings.…”