Tom Coburn: “I thank Senator Obama for his hard work. Soon after Katrina hit, one of the things that we noticed from our Federal…”

“I thank Senator Obama for his hard work. Soon after Katrina hit, one of the things that we noticed from our Federal Financial Oversight Committee was a lack of transparency and accountability in a lot of what the Corps of Engineers does, that FEMA does. We put forward a bill which did not make it out but certainly should have, especially in hindsight, with the waste, fraud, and abuse. I am not going to go through the amendments. The distinguished Senator from Illinois has done that. The American public is entitled to some facts. We held a hearing 3 weeks ago today in New Orleans. The distinguished Presiding Officer was at that hearing. Here is what we know: Out of $1.6 billion for debris removal, we paid three times too much. We paid the Corps on 30 million cubic yards $5 to administer it; $150 million to the Corps that was contracted through, and then they contracted with a major national corporation which then subcontracted with a regional corporation which then subcontracted. Here is what we found. The easy work was cherry-picked. The hard work was left to the people of Mississippi and Louisiana and some in Alabama. The local people actually have to do some of the work. One of the ways to achieve recovery in a disaster is to make sure you encourage the employment of locals.…”