Tom Coburn

And I would like to say for Social Security's defense, none of this is intentional.

And that is one of the reasons that we have seen this tremendous growth in what we think is at least 25 percent improper SSDI.

$13 billion goes fraudulently out of the Federal Government every year under EITC. We ought to figure that one out.

We have done nothing about paying dead people. We documented $1 billion that was spent over the previous 10 years that we could actually document paid to dead people.

There is no question. But there are automated ways to correct that.

I would love to have it, because what we discovered is--we have great professionals at Social Security.

What the Social Security system says is 22 percent of the time their Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) are making a mistake in terms of what they are granting.

Why would you not say, until you get all this up and running, here is one thing that you will do...

I have directed my staff to take the recommendations from the budget and, as fast as possible, get that into legislative language.

We need to be about fixing not just the symptoms of pain for people who are not disabled, but fixing the problem.

I am happy to let the Senator object ahead of time, as he obviously is going to.

I thank my colleague. I will make my mark on what I am going to reoffer in the future. I ask unanimous consent to call up amendment No. 766 and have the pending amendment set aside. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection to…

I appreciate the comments of my colleague, and question. The next amendment I would like to call up is amendment No. 767, which requires all legislation to be reviewed before it is considered by the Senate to determine whether duplicative…

All right. Let me explain a minute, and the Senator can object ahead of time or later. It doesn't matter when. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.

Can I actually have it read and then the Senator from Illinois object after having it read?

I agree. What is set up in legislation and mandated is not always things that will actually make you better or give us more knowledge.

A lot of what we have done is not our role. It is the State and locals' role.

I favor a 'grand bargain'... that does three things: First, raises revenues... second, to enact entitlement reform... and, finally, the third element, we need to look in every nook and cranny of the Federal Government.

We must find a better way to deal with our budget crisis. We need a comprehensive plan to rein in our Federal debt and deficit.

The costs of the COPS program outweigh the benefits by more than a billion dollars.

The problem is Members of Congress who tend to look at a problem and create a program rather than looking at a problem and determining whether or not the program already exists to solve that same situation.

Any grant program that has a grant application ought to have a stipulation that whoever is the grantee affirms that they are not getting another Federal grant for exactly the same thing.

Tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars could be saved through the consolidation or elimination of such programs.

We see the same institution or city or grant recipient get multiple awards from different grant programs within the Justice Department for exactly the same thing.

We have ignored the enumerated powers of the Constitution.