Tom Coburn: “There is no question, there are positive aspects of this program. I said that before. The question comes--and it really…”

“There is no question, there are positive aspects of this program. I said that before. The question comes--and it really comes from what Senator Stabenow said. We already give them an R&D tax credit. They already get a direct writeoff for doing this research anyway. So the American taxpayers are already paying for it. Now we come along and give them more. The point is, we do not need both. We do not need both. IBM gets an R&D tax credit, and then they get money from us under ATP for things they were going to do anyway. General Electric gets an R&D tax credit, then they get money from us in the ATP program for these things they are going to do anyway. I believe there has to come a time when we start thinking about how we spend our money and whether we are getting a good return. The fact is, with ATP, overall, all the money we have spent, we have not gotten back a return. The other point I would make is, only four States have received about 60 percent of the money on this ATP program.”