Tom Coburn: “I think it is a very noble attempt to try to put better hands on the stimulus. It is interesting to note that when we…”

“I think it is a very noble attempt to try to put better hands on the stimulus. It is interesting to note that when we had the first hearing with the IG who is overseeing the stimulus, he said, regrettably, $50 billion would be wasted; that is, $50 billion out of $867 billion--actually, some $940 billion--was going to be wasted. We started with the assumption that about 6 or 7 percent of this money was going to be defrauded. I congratulate my colleague because some of the steps he is talking about in his amendment will actually lessen that, hopefully. I agree with him. It is exciting for me to see a bipartisan attempt to start bringing teeth into the laws we pass, not toward the American public but toward the agencies that administer the funds.”