On the recordMarch 2, 2015
last week I came to the floor to launch what I have called Waste of the Week. I will put my prop up here. Waste of the Week is designed to provide awareness in simple ways to our colleagues here, how we can look at government spending that doesn't stack up in terms of something that is needed. Perhaps it was needed at one particular time, or perhaps it is something the taxpayers shouldn't be paying for in the first place. I would like to raise awareness, and I am going to do that each week. This is my second week. This evening I wish to present the second Waste of the Week. Last week we talked about the $6 billion that could be saved if we simply fixed a program that was duplicating checks to taxpayers who only qualified for payments from one of those programs, not both. If you are disabled and can't work, you can qualify for Social Security disability. Alternatively, you can qualify for unemployment insurance if you can work, but you are not able to find a job. You can qualify for unemployment insurance, but you can't get both. You either can work, or you can't work. Here are two Federal programs that shockingly cost the taxpayers $6 billion. This is the second week of Waste of the Week, and I would like to talk about duplication in government. While it is a little harder to put a specific fiscal number on the savings, clearly we can save the taxpayer money and start this process.…
