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 ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To protect the right of individuals to bear arms at water resources…
I do not have any intention of withdrawing the amendment. There is a Federal statute that already prohibits the carrying of firearms in Federal buildings and structures, and we will get the Senator the statute. That is very clear. We were…
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.
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.
We need to be about fixing not just the symptoms of pain for people who are not disabled, but fixing the problem.
Why would you not say, until you get all this up and running, here is one thing that you will do...
I would love to have it, because what we discovered is--we have great professionals at Social Security.
I have directed my staff to take the recommendations from the budget and, as fast as possible, get that into legislative language.
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.
$13 billion goes fraudulently out of the Federal Government every year under EITC. We ought to figure that one out.
Nevertheless, we give an advantage to those with an adjusted gross income of $1 million or more a year. What we have done is given the well-heeled and well-connected an advantage the average American citizen cannot do. I cannot recall, but…
Every 4 years the Federal Government spends $200 million so both political parties can have a party. We are $17.4 trillion in debt as we speak at this moment. That is $50 million a year. The way to get rid of a billion-dollar debt is $50…
Here is one that doesn't get anything as far as a blue slip. What we now have is 3 years' worth of reports by the General Accountability Office showing at least $250 billion in questionable programs that are markedly duplicative of one…
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…
This is an amendment to require a report from the Treasury Department on the abuse of tax-exempt status by charitable organizations. What we have seen in studies by the GAO and the IG is that many professional athletes set up charitable…
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.
I understand that, but I think this amendment has no technical problem because it does not raise new revenues. It is simply a direction for performance of the Federal Government, which is the marketplace fairness. We are directing what…
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 will discuss amendment No. 753, and I appreciate the objection by the Senator from Illinois to that amendment. We have over $4 billion owed to the Federal Government by Federal employees in past due taxes. I am not talking about taxes…
Here is another from an FAA supervisor: I am an air traffic control supervisor. I am writing you because I don't want to lose my job but, more importantly, I don't want to see safety across the Nation be deteriorated at the risk of the…
I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Sequester
I wanted to spend a minute as we have had a lot of discussions over the pain that is being caused by the American traveling public and businesses on the FAA. We heard the majority leader say we couldn't do the sequester because we still…
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