Tom Carper

I call up amendment No. 2066. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Merkley). The clerk will report. The legislative clerk read as follows: The Senator from Delaware [Mr. Carper] proposes an amendment numbered 2066.

Part of what we are trying to do is to make sure that the names of beneficiaries stay out of the hands of the bad guys.

It seems like we would not need a very complicated detection system to look at that and say, 'You know, that just seems strange.'

The programs you consider today show that responsibilities are being shared in a way resembling infrastructure policy.

NAWCA is a cost share arrangement between private and State partners that raise money for wetland conservation.

We really appreciate your giving us a chance to talk a little bit about the legislation some of us have introduced.

What do you want to accomplish, and how would you go about measuring progress?

We continue to work on it because everything we do we know we could do better.

Active conservation comes down to someone who must do the work, and often that is the landowner.

Despite being a major economic, environmental, and recreational asset, the Delaware River Basin watershed region does not have a Federal program charged with leading conservation and restoration efforts in the region.

Last week Senator Lautenberg and I were sitting here and we were having a hearing on mercury.

I have been trying to combat waste and fraud in Medicare and Medicaid downstairs for the last hour or two.

Is it possible to have economic growth and job creation and still protect the environment?

We like to say it is the place they like to stop for lunch.

I think when you look at how much money we invest, the Federal dollars that we invest in protecting the Delaware River Estuary, I think it is pretty modest by Federal standards, by like $1 million.

NFWF is a true--not rhetorical--investment in that $1 of Federal expense returns multiple dollars back from the private sector.

The system that is designed to uncover such wrongdoing actually worked as it is intended.

I think it was Richard Nixon who used to say that people who don't make mistakes are people who don't do anything.

I think we will be moving legislation later this year, not just focused on the expenditure of $800,000, which is not insignificant, but also to focus on the expenditure, wiser expenditure of billions and billions of dollars, which is part…

People may not believe what we say, they will believe what we do.

Are you satisfied with the corrective measures that have been taken? Just be very brief.

Give us some idea what that might be.

We were finding such outrageous conduct that we took the unusual step of preparing an interim report.

We have to be just dogged in our pursuit of effecting the kind of changes that are needed.

A country that is running deficits of over a trillion dollars can ill afford improper payments or fraud losses that are this large.