Tom Coburn: “what you just heard was a denial that we need oversight and that people shouldn't be accountable for how they spend…”

“what you just heard was a denial that we need oversight and that people shouldn't be accountable for how they spend Federal dollars. The fact is, this is one program and one meeting. This doesn't stop meetings. This doesn't stop any legitimate function. This was a golf tournament and a meeting for 2 days that cost $46,000 of Federal funds. I will tell you, NOAA does not have any conflict of interest rules presently in their guidelines. So what the Senator is saying is, leave it the way it is today. Let's don't change it. That is exactly the problem, because this didn't come through the Commerce Committee. They would have fixed it, as Senator Stevens fixed the fishery boards. Instead, what we are trying to do with this is to fix the same thing Senator Stevens did with the fishery boards. Because it didn't come through committee, that didn't get attached. Now that we want to attach it on the floor, we don't want to have that done. The fact is, there is no oversight catalyst with these grant programs. By defeating this amendment, we are going to continue saying there is none. If you don't like this amendment, then fix it in conference. There is no reason why we shouldn't hold these grants to the light of day. There is no reason why they shouldn't be transparent. Everything in this Government should be transparent. There is nothing in these grants that is fiduciary or private that shouldn't be exposed.”