The Public Record
Tom Coburn is a former U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, serving from 2005 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Coburn was known for his fiscal conservatism and advocacy for government transparency. He was a practicing physician before entering politics, which influenced his views on healthcare and government spending. Throughout his tenure, he was a vocal critic of wasteful government expenditures and often called for reforms to improve accountability in Congress.
I appreciate the comments of my colleague from Texas and his earnest desire to confront the problems in front of us. I would say at the outset that the recognition over the last 8\1/2\ to 9 years of being in the Senate is that we have a…
I am pretty disgusted with the MEDIC program because I do not think we are getting that much from it.
If we come back a year from now, Chairman Carper, and this stuff has not been done... we ought to see about cleaning house everywhere at CMS.
What is wrong with the recommendations that the IG is making in this? It fits with common sense.
I think, one of our problems in government is we see a problem, and then our rules of government make it to where we cannot save the lives of the next 1,600 people who are going to die from a prescription drug overdose because we are not…
I have refrained from being on the floor during this debate, as I listened to it and watched, and I would compliment my colleagues in trying to solve a very difficult problem. But I just heard a speech by my colleague from New Mexico that…
Eight years ago next month, Tom Carper and I had a hearing on GSA and I would tell you nothing has essentially happened in 8 years.
The Federal Government is the largest buyer of everything in the world and there should not be one instance that we do not get the best price and the best value for everything that we do.
I would just tell you, when we look at sequester, the gentleman sitting before us today could save us a third of that every year if GSA was highly effective.
We are going to borrow $1.6 trillion over the next 10 years to fund student loans. The differential between what that costs the Treasury and what somebody pays--we are going to have subsidies in this no matter what. The question is, How…
I ask if the Senator would mind yielding to me before I go to my next meeting. I will only take 3 or 4 minutes.
It would take one adjustment to that regulation by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and all that would go away, and it will not make any difference in the long term in terms of our environmental consequences because we are still going…
Will you commit to ensuring that significant policy and guidance documents undergo interagency review as directed by E.O. 12866 and E.O. 13563, including interagency review, before documents are released to the public?
reserving the right to object, I appreciate the intent of my colleague and that he wants to try to solve this problem. As he knows, several of us have another proposal. What I suggest is that we compromise on the President's proposal. It…
If you break it down, that is $14,678 per family in this country, and most of it is well intended, but a lot of it has a ton of unintended consequences.
One of the things Senator Carper said is common sense. Where do you get that? How do you develop it?
What we are going to see is two refineries in Oklahoma close within a year, year and a half, because they cannot afford to buy the Renewable Fuel Credits.
The President reaffirmed the principle of sound regulations with Executive Order 13563.
My worry at OIRA is that the intent is good, the heart, the compassion is right, but the background reference for having knowledge on how regulations will truly impact an industry... is missing.
We have, if you count intelligence organizations, far in excess of $80 billion a year.
One of the things that I have noticed, 3 years ago I outlined an Air Force program, an IT program, said we ought to cancel it. We did not cancel it. We canceled it this year and paid an $80 million cancellation fee.
If we could actually execute what GAO has outlined, you are talking $300 billion over the next 10 years.
We did not come anywhere close to saving $24 billion for the American people.
Politicians like Tom Coburn
