Legislation & Issues
Oversight and Investigations
These oversight efforts are meant to shed light on various challenges facing the federal government that should be addressed by agency management and congressional oversight. In light of the government’s incredible size coupled with what seems to be disinterest in oversight, Congress has failed to prioritize spending and require measurable results from those entrusted with billions of your hard-earned tax dollars. I believe that you, the American taxpayer, deserve better.
As President Lincoln said, we are a “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” and to uphold that principle we need your help. As part of my ongoing effort to shine the light on the federal government, I encourage anyone with examples of government waste, fraud, or abuse to let us know about it.
Tom Coburn, M.D.
Investigative Reports
Federal Programs to Die For: American tax dollars sent six feet under
October 2010
Senator Coburn released an oversight report that exposes more than $1 billion that has been sent to the deceased in the past decade. Washington paid for dead people’s prescriptions and wheelchairs, subsidized their farms, helped pay their rent, and even chipped in for their heating and air conditioning bills.
Grim Diagnosis: a check-up on the federal health law
In their second report since the enactment of the federal health law, U.S. Senators and doctors Tom Coburn (R-OK) and John Barrasso (R-WY) released, “Grim Diagnosis – A check-up on the federal health law” detailing how many of the consequences of the new law are worse than anticipated.
Pork 101: How Education Earmarks School Taxpayers
September 2010
Senator Coburn released an oversight report on education earmarks. The report shows how Congress’ parochial education projects are harming students, delaying reform and undermining our future.
August 2010
Senators Tom Coburn and John McCain released their second joint report, highlighting questionable stimulus projects that are wasteful, mismanaged, and overall unsuccessful in creating jobs. The projects featured in the report cannot be considered as an investment in long-term priorities to create and sustain economic growth that the Stimulus was designed to do.
July 2010
Dr. Coburn has released a new oversight report “Party at the DOJ” that describes how DOJ is wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on recreational activities that are undermining DOJ’s core mission to enforce the law, prevent crime and administer justice.
Bad Medicine: A Check-Up On The New Federal Health Law
July 2010
Senators Tom Coburn and John Barrasso released this report on July 7th, 2010. The intention of this report is to highlight some of problems with the law and its consequences. After 100 days after passage, the report reveals new information and goes through a litany of problems with this flawed legislation.
December 2009
Senators Tom Coburn, M.D. and John McCain released this joint report which highlights 100 wasteful projects in the first $200 billion spent in the $787 billion stimulus bill passed in February 2009. (Direct link to report)
July 2009
Senators Tom Coburn, M.D. and John McCain released this joint report which examines the $78 billion from the Highway Trust Fund not being spent on bridges or roads, but instead on projects such as bike paths, pedestrian walkways, “scenic beautification,” and road-kill prevention tunnels. (Direct link to report)
June 2009
This report discloses 100 of the worst examples of waste in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or stimulus bill. The projects included in the report – worth $5.5 billion – range from Maine to California, and even two from the state of Oklahoma. Among the worst are a tunnel for turtles, a guardrail for a non-existent lake and repairs for bridges that are barely used. (Direct link to report)
May 2009
It is no day at the beach for American taxpayers when billions of dollars worth of sand projects go out with the tide. Yet, in his oversight report “Washed Out to Sea, How Congress Prioritizes Beach Pork Over National Needs,” Senator Tom Coburn details just how beachfront communities, D.C. lobbyists, and Members of Congress have teamed up to “save” beaches with federally funded sand – an effort that always results in additional requests for sand projects in the future. (Direct link to report)
December 2008
With billions of taxpayer dollars spent on low-priority and questionable projects, 2008 was a banner year for wasteful Washington spending. 2008: The Worst Waste of the Year highlights more than $1 billion in taxpayer funding that Washington bureaucrats and politicians wasted on more than 60 examples of waste: everything from an inflatable alligator to training for casino workers to an unsuccessful search for Alaskan ice worms and extraterrestrial life forms. (Direct link to report)
Justice Denied: Waste and Mismanagement at the Department of Justice
October 2008
There is extensive waste and mismanagement at the Department of
Justice, costing taxpayers more than $10 billion. Examples include
excessive junkets to conferences, bureaucrats skipping work for hundreds
of weeks without leave, misplacing and losing hundreds of laptops and
dangerous weapons, supporting groups with terrorist ties, hobnobbing
with Hollywood producers, funding duplicative and unproven recreational
activities, and improperly managing thousands of grants. (Direct link to report)
August 2008
AWOL is the general term given to hours during which an employee is absent from his or her job without permission. This can range from simply being late to work, to not showing for months at a time. Between 2001 and 2007, the number of work hours lost to AWOL employees rose steadily. In total, there were nearly 20 million AWOL hours in just seven years across 18 departments and agencies. (Direct link to report)
July 2008
The HIV/AIDS conference has become very popular on the federal employee “conference circuit.” Uncle Sam planned to spend almost half of a million dollars to send over 100 federal employees to the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, Mexico, which ran from August 3 through August 8, 2008. According to new reports, conference organizers expected the event to cost $25 million and attract 22,000 delegates and conference goers. (Direct link to report)
May 2008
Federal agencies have increasingly come under scrutiny for their lavish spending on conferences, and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) is not an exception. USDA recently reported to Congress that it spent $19.4 million on conferences in 2006—almost tripling the amount it spent in 2000. There are approximately 112,000 employees at USDA, and in 2006, the Agency sent 20,959 employees to 6,719 conferences and training events across the nation and around the world. (Direct link to report)
June 2007
“CDC Off Center” is a 115-page oversight report examining how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tilted off center. The report makes recommendations about how the CDC might get back on track. The American people expect CDC to spend its $10 billion budget treating and preventing disease and dealing with public safety threats, including the threat of bioterrorism. Instead, CDC has spent hundreds of millions of tax dollars for failed prevention efforts, international junkets, and lavish facilities, while failing to demonstrate it is controlling disease. (Direct link to report)
Special Issues
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