(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senators Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) and Mark Begich (D-AK) released the following statement Thursday regarding the “Orphan Earmarks Act,” a bill they have introduced to rescind funds for so-called orphaned earmarks.  Specifically, the bill would rescind earmarks that remain 90 percent or more unused nine years after being appropriated, with the possibility of holding funds one more year for earmarks the agency head believes will be funded within the following 12 months.  The total savings of the Coburn-Begich bill could exceed $500 million.  

“With our nation facing a $14 trillion debt, it is critical both parties work together to identify and pass common sense spending cuts.  As Congress shifts its focus from earmarking to deficit reduction, rescinding funds for orphaned earmarks is an obvious step toward fiscal sanity.  I urge my colleagues to pass this measure as soon as possible,” Dr. Coburn said, noting that the Senate passed similar language last year by a margin of 87 to 11.

“We have to leave no stone unturned as we work to reduce the deficit,” Begich said. “As we focus on reducing spending, we can take easy steps like rescinding the money for unspent earmarks. If an earmark hasn’t been claimed in nearly a decade, it’s unlikely it ever will be.  By essentially passing a ‘Use it or Lose it’ strategy, we can save roughly $500 million. That’s not chump change.”

The Coburn-Begich bill is modeled after a Bush administration proposal from 2008 that would have rescinded any highway and bridge earmark funds from the 1998 highway bill (TEA21) that had less than 10 percent of funds spent or obligated.  That proposal only would have saved $626 million including $389 million in 152 earmarks that had no funding obligated a decade after passage.  The Coburn-Begich bill targets all orphan earmarks, not just those for highways and bridges.  
 

Updated: U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), spent New Year’s Eve with the troops in Kabul, Afghanistan.  

The Senator is pictured with Stillwater native Jamie Armstrong who
serves as a Human Resources Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.  

In the background is the make-shift ball that was dropped to celebrate the New Year.  Photo courtesy of the office of U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe. 

PROGRESS BEING MADE IN AFGHANISTAN

45th Playing Vital Role; July 2011 Deadline Problematic

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (FRC) returned from his New Year’s Congressional Delegation trip to Afghanistan describing the progress that he witnessed while spending time with troops on the ground.

“It was an honor to spend New Year’s day with the troops of the 2-45th Agribusiness Development Team (ADT) of Oklahoma,” Inhofe said.  “They have been there in Gardez since October when they took over for the 1-45th ADT.  I am so proud of the work that is being accomplished by the fine members of the Oklahoma Army National Guard.  They have gained the trust of the local Afghanis and the village elders by using their expertise and hard work to improve the area’s agriculture.  Their mission is vital to the people of the region as well as the future economic vitality of the province and Afghanistan as a whole.”

ADTs provide expertise, advice, and training in soil sciences, irrigation agronomy, horticulture, marketing, storage, pest control and animal husbandry to Afghan universities, provincial-level ministries, local farmers, and agribusinesses.  Their objective is to change the agricultural environment from one of dependence to self sustainment and a future in which Afghani farmers can once again export goods such as dried fruits, honey and nuts.  

In early October 2010, a 65 Soldier ADT from 2 – 45th Oklahoma Army National Guard Battalion deployed to Afghanistan to train and educate Afghans on modern farming and cattle techniques to sustain the local economy.  They are located at Forward Operating Base Gardez in the Paktya Province.  Under the direction of their Commander, Altus native Col. Robert Roshell, the 2-45th took over for the 1-45th ADT – the first time one Oklahoma National Guard unit was replaced by another one of its own units.  

Agriculture accounts for 45 percent of Afghanistan’s GDP and employs over 70 percent of the population.  With an area of operation approximately the size of New Jersey, the efforts of the 45th are helping to develop growing economy that is both sustainable and legal.  Their joint effort with the International Security Assistance Force, the State Department, the Defense Department, the Department of Agriculture, USAID, and Provincial Reconstruction Teams is strengthening the connection between the Afghan government and the people of Paktya.  

Progress and Problems

Our efforts in Afghanistan continue to be plagued by a host of issues including an ineffectual and corrupt government, a determined insurgency, the difficulties associated with growing a capable Afghan National Army and Police Force, and our ability to sustain an Alliance with a long-term commitment to Afghanistan and its people.

“My assessment of our progress in Afghanistan is positive but results are mixed,” Inhofe said.  “I remain concerned about President Karzai’s ability to form a central government that is trusted by the Afghan people and that can provide adequate governance and security throughout Afghanistan.  To assist the Afghan government, the State Department has increased its presence from approximate 300 to over 1100 personnel.  While these personnel are providing assistance across the spectrum of the government and ministries, they cannot focus their efforts on Kabul.  They must continue to expand and engage throughout Afghanistan in order to link provinces and villages back to the central government.”

Inhofe continued, “On the military front, the surge has shown progress in locations where we have focused our forces.  However, the Taliban continues to operate in other locations throughout the country with operatives able to freely cross the border into and out of Pakistan.  I met with Brigadier General Aminullah Patyani, commander of the Kabul Military Training Center, observed the training of Afghan soldiers, and spoke with several of the new recruits and new leaders of the Afghan Army. They are great warriors and their numbers have grown to over 171,000, but numbers alone do not tell the whole story.  In order to transition security to Afghan control, these soldiers and their police counterparts in the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) must be fully trained and equipped to ensure they can fight as a cohesive force.  Forcing an early transition to ANSF control to meet an arbitrary timeline will be disastrous to the ANSF, the Coalition, and long term security of Afghanistan and the region.  

“After numerous discussions with Afghan and coalition personnel during my visit, it was unanimous that setting the July 2011 timeline to begin withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan had a devastating effect on operations.  It sends the wrong signal to the Afghan people, our Coalition partners and the Taliban.  I continue to have the utmost confidence in General Petraeus, his ability to execute his counter-insurgency plan, and his ability to successfully lead our nation’s troops in Afghanistan. It must be conditions on the ground, not arbitrary political dates, that dictate any withdrawal or transition if we are to succeed in Afghanistan.  Failure in Afghanistan will directly impact our national security in the long term.”

A "Fox News Sunday" interview with Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn is the national buzz with his candid comments that, "Apocalyptic pain" from an out-of-control debt could cause 18 percent unemployment and a massive contraction in the economy that would destroy the middle class within the next few years.

Coburn (R-Okla.), who recently issued a report on government waste warned that the U.S. only has about three or four years to get its fiscal house in order or it could find itself facing austerity measures seen in Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and earlier in Japan.

"The history of republics is they average 200 years of life. And they all fail in the history over fiscal matters. They rot from within before they collapse or are attacked," Coburn said.

"The problem that faces our country today, the last 30 years we have lived off the future, and the bill is coming due," he added.

The senator said he’s not trying to scare anyone, but eliminating waste in the federal government’s ledgers is imperative not just to prevent default but a massive implosion that he defined in catastrophic terms.

"I think you’ll see a 15 to 18 percent unemployment rate. I think you will see an 8 to 9 percent decline in GDP. I think you’ll see the middle class just destroyed if we don’t do this. And the people that it will harm the most will be the poorest of the poor, because we’ll print money to try to debase our currency and get out of it and what you will see is hyperinflation," Coburn said.

"If we didn’t take some pain now, we’re going to experience apocalyptic pain, and it’s going to be out of our control. The idea should be that we control it," he said.

Coburn said he can come up with $350 billion off the top of his head in inefficiency and waste that could be eliminated without impacting anyone in a practical sense. He noted $50 billion in programs that are duplicative and $100 billion in Medicare and Medicaid fraud that was not addressed in the health care law.

"We have 267 job training programs across 39 different agencies. Why do we have 267 of them? We have 105 programs to encourage people to go into science and technology, engineering and math. That’s 105 sets of bureaucrats. None of them have metrics on it," he said.

"The Pentagon can’t even audit its own books. It doesn’t even know where its money is going. And we refuse to have the tough forces go on the Pentagon so that at least they are efficient with the money they’re spending," Coburn added.

Coburn acknowledged that most of the cuts he is currently proposing are discretionary spending, which is only a fraction of the budget. Still, he said, a couple hundred billion dollars of the nearly $1 trillion in stimulus spending could be cut without hurting a fragile recovery.

The senator, who was also a member of President Obama’s deficit commission that deadlocked earlier this month on recommendations for Congress to reduce its debt, added that structural changes need to be made to the way government works.

"The very fact that we have $1.1 trillion in tax expenditures every year that directs capital in a way that the government says it should be directed rather than the way it should be directed based on markets, tells us that we have a terrible tax system," Coburn said.

"I don’t care if you’re rich or poor, liberal or conservative. If we don’t fix the problems in front of us, everybody is going to pay a significant price," he said.

To read more of the Fox News story online, click here.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) today released a new oversight report, “Wastebook 2010” that highlights some of the most egregious examples of government waste in 2010.

“As 2010 ends, millions of Americans are still struggling to find work.  Even those lucky enough to have jobs have had to tighten their belts.  Yet, Congress continues to find new and extravagant ways to waste tax dollars.  In today’s economy, we can’t afford to spend nearly $2 million to showcase neon signs no longer in use at Las Vegas Casinos, nor can Congress and federal agencies afford to spend nearly $1 billion a year on unnecessary printing costs,” Dr. Coburn said.

“Our national debt is the greatest threat to our national security according to our own military leaders,” Dr. Coburn added.  “Well-intentioned people across the political spectrum will argue about the best way to get us back on track.  But we can all agree that cutting wasteful and low priority spending from the budget is not only sensible, but essential.”

“I hope this report will give taxpayers and concerned citizens the information they need to hold Washington accountable.  As dysfunctional as our politics can seem, our system still works when ordinary citizens get informed and engaged,” Dr. Coburn said.

Examples of wasteful spending highlighted in “Wastebook 2010” include:

•   The city of Las Vegas has received a $5.2 million federal grant to build the Neon Boneyard Park and Museum, including $1.8 million in 2010.  For over the last decade, Museum supporters have gathered and displayed over 150 old Las Vegas neon signs, such as the Golden Nugget and Silver Slipper casinos.

•   The National Science Foundation provided more than to $200,000 to study of why political candidates make vague statements.

•   The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) spends $175 million every year to maintain hundreds of buildings it does not use, including a pink, octagonal monkey house in Dayton, Ohio.

•   Medicare paid out over $35 million to a vast network of 118 “phantom” medical clinics, allegedly established by members of a criminal gang to submit phony reimbursement claims.

•   The Government Printing Office (GPO) is using a “video game space mouse” (and nearly $60,000 in taxpayer funds) to teach children the history of printing.

•   In July, nearly half a million taxpayer dollars went to the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, where wine tasting and castle tours were among the events planned for the conference participants.

•   The Internal Revenue Service paid out $112 million in undeserved tax refunds to prisoners who filed fraudulent returns, according to the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

•   The National Science Foundation directed nearly a quarter million dollars to a Stanford University professor’s study of how Americans use the Internet to find love.

•   The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) took the term “cold case” to a new level in 2010.  The agency spent over $20,000 in taxpayer money “to unravel the anonymity of a 2,500-year-old mummy.”

•   The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent nearly $442,340 million to study the number of male prostitutes in Vietnam and their social setting.  

•   This year, taxpayers forked over $60,000 for the “first-of-its kind” promotion of the Vidalia onion in conjunction with the movie, Shrek Forever After. ”

•   The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded over $600,000 to the Minnesota Zoo to create a wolf “avatar” video game called “WolfQuest.”

•   A $700,000 federal grant paid for researchers to examine “greenhouse gas emission from organic dairies, which are cause by cow burps, among other things.”

To read or download the report, click here. 

Edit Note: As Congress debates raising taxes and hidden spending, Dr. Coburn (R-OK) recently delivered a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate expressing his concerns and a challenge to make hard choices in light of our growing debt and deficits.  A condensed version of that speech follows and it should be considered by every thinking American: 

We are at a defining moment in our country.  There is not anybody in this body who does not recognize that our country is on an unsustainable course.  They know it.  It is well known.  The world knows it.  We can argue about how close we are to the debt crisis and the liquidity crisis, but no one disputes that one is coming. We just don’t know when …

[W]e are not willing to make the hard choices. We will not come together and do what is best for America. What we will do is just take another shot of morphine, drink another drink on the Titanic, and hope that somehow it gets better …

The fact is, we already have a debt commission. It is called the U.S. Congress … We are the debt commission. We have to have a plan to avert the catastrophe that is in front of us …

It is not something that can wait a year.  We are going to have a major liquidity crisis, and we are also going to have a major interest rate crisis. Nobody knows when it comes. But the one thing we do know is that if we don’t have a plan, we will no longer control our ability to get out of our problem; the people who own our debt will control how we get out of our problem.

So if, in fact, we want to hand over our responsibility in the Senate to the bondholders of the world, then we should continue to not have a plan. But if, in fact, we want to embrace the oath we were given, then we should have a plan.
 
As we debate over the next 2 weeks coming up to Christmas, part of that debate has to be whether we are grown up enough to recognize that the party is over and that we better start bailing water, we better form the line, the bucket brigade; otherwise, we are going to go down with the ship.

That is realism. That is what is getting ready to happen to us. Mr. Bernanke cannot solve our problems in this regard. Only we can solve these problems for the American people.

Cutting spending should be the easy part of our solution.  We can document hundreds of billions of dollars a year that are wasted, defrauded, or duplicated in the Federal Government … I often hear my colleagues assert the power of the purse when it comes to earmarking, but I never hear the same thing when we talk about trying to cut spending. The bias is to spend, not to cut spending. We are either going to do it or outside financial forces are going to force us.

Some people say it is suicide to tell the American people they have to sacrifice. I adamantly disagree with that.  They are grown up.  They get it way ahead of us.  They have already seen what is happening to us.  They are feeling it now.  They have this innate sense that we are disconnected from the very real problems they are seeing. They are ready to do their part.

I will borrow a line from someone far more eloquent, J.F.K.:  “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.”

What does a shared sacrifice mean? It means that if you live in this country and make a decent income, you need to be more responsible with your health care and retirement than you are today.  If you have gamed the system to get disability benefits or workmen’s compensation, sorry, your free ride is over.  If you are receiving a special tax break because you have a good lobbyist, you are going to have to give that up.  If you are a defense contractor, you might only get a bonus for doing exceptional work, not standard work, not for just showing up to work.  And if you are a politician, it might mean you have to lose an election to do what is best for this country.

If we think about what is required and how we would achieve real change, we have two truths in tension: One, we have a government we tolerate; two, the American people have the power to change that government.
  
We can solve all of the difficult challenges before us, but we can’t solve them if Washington will not even debate the problem. And if we can’t overcome our courage deficit, the American people have a responsibility to replace us all–to replace every one of us.

Courage is having the fortitude to do the right thing for the right moral reason at the right time regardless of the consequences to you.  And we lack that in our body politic today.

I know a lot of people see this tax deal as a big political victory. I do not see it as a victory at all for the country or for our side.
  
Actually, a former Bush staffer, Dan Bartlett, is quoted as saying:
  
“We knew that, politically, once you get it into law, it becomes almost impossible to remove it. That’s not a bad legacy. The fact that we were able to lay the trap does feel pretty good, to tell you the truth.”

This gentleman just ignored the magnitude, severity, and urgency of the problems that face America.

The political cynicism that accompanies this should give us all pause to think for a minute on the games that are being played in Washington. Congratulations. Somebody embarrassed somebody else.

How does making our entitlement dilemma worse by passing Medicare Part D feel? It is now up to $13 trillion in unfunded liability, and the rich get the same benefit as the poor; does that feel good?  How about doubling the size of the government since 1999; does that feel good, especially at a time when fraud, waste, and abuse have doubled?  Does it feel good that we have done nothing to reform Social Security in the years since people applauded in the middle of the State of the Union address because of President Bush’s failed effort to fix Social Security?  Does that feel good?  Did that solve something or was that political showmanship?  That belies the history of this body of coming together.

Economists worldwide and some of the brightest people at Harvard and MIT, the University of Texas, Pennsylvania, they don’t sleep at night right now. They know we are on the razor-thin edge of falling over a cliff.

The fact is, both parties have laid a trap for future generations by our inaction, our laziness, our arrogance, and our crass desire for power.  We are waterboarding the next generation with debt. We are drowning them in obligations because we don’t have the courage to come together and address or even debate a real solution.

The history of our country, at least what I saw growing up from the 1940s to the 1950s, the 1960s and the 1970s, was that our Nation thrived because we always embraced the heritage of service and sacrifice when our future was at stake. We actually have seen some of that in the last 10 years.

I challenge my colleagues to go to Gettysburg or Philadelphia or visit ground zero and ask:  What went through the minds of the brave young Americans when the doors of their landing craft opened on Omaha Beach?   What motivated the heroes on flight 93 on 9/11 when they stormed a cockpit occupied by terrorists?   What did our Founders think when they signed the Declaration of Independence, knowing their lives and fortunes were on the line?   They were thinking about the future.   They were making that critical decision to have courage in the face of adversity and take with it what may come.  But they knew doing the correct and honorable and right thing was more important than their reputation or any other thing they had.

Here is what one of our Founders thought. Almost 234 years ago, on December 19, 1776, Thomas Paine was contemplating the great and uncertain struggle that lay ahead in our battle for independence and freedom. He said: “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace’ …’

Let it be our day.  Let it be today.