Dan Coats: “once again, I am on the floor for the ``Waste of the Week.'' Each week since February, I have come to the floor to…”

“once again, I am on the floor for the ``Waste of the Week.'' Each week since February, I have come to the floor to discuss an issue of waste, fraud, and abuse--misspent taxpayer money identified by neutral agencies of the Federal Government that didn't have a partisan bone to pick in this or by inspectors general of various agencies or by the agencies themselves. In February, I said I am going to come here every week throughout the duration of this session, and I am going to try to achieve a goal of $100 billion of waste. I wasn't sure we could reach that goal, but today is a very special day because we are going to highlight by the end of my speech over $100 billion of waste, fraud, and abuse that the taxpayer is covering with hard-earned pay at home. Over the past several months, I have highlighted a variety of examples from the serious, such as the illegal procurement practices at the Veterans' Administration, to the ridiculous: taxpayer funding, under grants, for massages of rabbits to determine whether a massage after strenuous exercise made them feel better. I don't think we needed to gather a bunch of rabbits and pay, with a $387,000 grant to an organization to mechanically massage the backs of rabbits. I think if you stop anybody on the street and ask: Do you think a good massage would make you feel a little bit better, especially after a strenuous exercise--I think the answer would be yes.…”