[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 74 (Monday, May 19, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S6598]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CONTROLLING FEDERAL SPENDING

  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, the FY2004 budget resolution adopted last 
month includes a provision to uncover waste, fraud and abuse in Federal 
Government spending. Today marks the beginning of a transparent and 
deliberative process that will be undertaken by Committees in the House 
and Senate to control Federal spending.
  Specifically, the budget resolution requires the Chairman of the 
Committee on the Budget in both the House and Senate to place in the 
Congressional Record specified levels of savings for each authorizing 
committee. Chairman Nussle and I have developed a joint set of targets 
that requests each authorizing committee to report back with 
recommended savings proposals amounting to 1 percent of the committee's 
total mandatory spending. I will work with Senate committees to ensure 
that the savings target meaningfully represents the opportunities to 
find improvements in the programs under each committee's jurisdiction.
  Pursuant to section 301(b) of H. Con. Res. 95, I submit the following 
specified levels of savings for Senate Committees. Given these savings 
targets, the budget resolution further requires committees to submit, 
by September 2, 2003, to the Budget Committee their findings that 
identify changes in law within their jurisdiction that would produce 
the specified savings. The reports submitted by committees will guide 
us in the preparation of future budget resolutions and will help us all 
improve program oversight.
  It is my hope that the committees will enthusiastically join Chairman 
Nussle and me in this effort to root out waste, fraud and abuse. As 
trustees of taxpayer dollars, Members of Congress must insist that 
limited resources not be squandered. Federal spending has been growing 
at unsustainable levels. Congress cannot become lax in its duty to 
perform the necessary oversight on Federal spending.
  Often we find that Federal programs--ignored over time--become 
susceptible to waste, fraud or abuse. For example, according to a 
General Accounting Office report released in January of this year, 
Medicaid has been added for the first time to the GAO's high-risk list, 
``owing to the program's size, growth, diversity, and fiscal management 
weaknesses.''
  Limited oversight has afforded States and health care providers the 
opportunity to increase Federal funding inappropriately. States are 
able to take advantage of funding schemes which supplant State Medicaid 
dollars with Federal Medicaid dollars by overpaying State-owned 
facilities and requiring the local government to transfer the excess 
back to the State. These dollars are then siphoned away from Medicaid 
patients and often are used for other purposes. Without proper 
oversight this and other program abuses can persist for years.
  Other recent examples of abuse include a finding by the Inspector 
General of the Department of Education that nearly 23 percent of 
student loan recipients whose loans were discharged due to disability 
claims were gainfully employed. Additionally, the Office of Management 
and Budget has estimated that more than $8 billion in erroneous earned 
income tax payments are made each year. These situations are 
unacceptable. The work that the Senate and House will undertake will 
result in reforms in these and other instances of misspent Federal 
resources.
  Chairman Nussle and I have put in place a project specifically 
designed to draw upon the knowledge and experience of Senate experts in 
these programs. The savings resulting from this effort will not be 
arbitrary; they will be developed through sound and thoughtful 
considerations by those who know the programs best. I look forward to 
working with all the committee chairmen who will be reporting their 
findings and am committed to making this a success.
  I ask unanimous consent that the above-mentioned spending levels be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

            SAVINGS FROM 1 PERCENTAGE POINT REDUCTION IN MANDATORY SPENDING BY AUTHORIZING COMMITTEE
                                     [By fiscal year in billions of dollars]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                              Senate:                                          2004       2004-08      2004-13
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry...............................    BA        -0.603       -3.162       -6.568
                                                                      OT        -0.563       -2.982       -6.251
Armed Services....................................................    BA        -0.778       -4.201       -9.178
                                                                      OT        -0.777       -4.195       -9.165
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs...............................    BA        -0.139       -0.719       -1.436
                                                                      OT        -0.017       -0.058       -0.092
Commerce, Science, and Transportation.............................    BA        -0.117       -0.601       -1.244
                                                                      OT        -0.074       -0.382       -0.807
Energy and Natural Resources......................................    BA        -0.027       -0.118       -0.218
                                                                      OT        -0.024       -0.108       -0.201
Environment and Public Works......................................    BA        -0.264       -1.493       -3.018
                                                                      OT        -0.023       -0.106       -0.195
Finance...........................................................    BA        -7.340      -41.323      -98.601
                                                                      OT        -7.379      -41.407      -98.735
Foreign Relations.................................................    BA        -0.100       -0.599       -1.289
                                                                      OT        -0.119       -0.563       -1.181
Governmental Affairs..............................................    BA        -0.831       -4.518      -10.042
                                                                      OT        -0.816       -4.446       -9.904
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.............................    BA        -0.080       -0.471       -1.016
                                                                      OT        -0.072       -0.433       -0.944
Judiciary.........................................................    BA        -0.085       -0.324       -0.621
                                                                      OT        -0.079       -0.326       -0.618
Veterans' Affairs.................................................    BA        -0.342       -1.833       -3.864
                                                                      OT        -0.341       -1.827       -3.852
                                                                   ---------------------------------------------
    Total.........................................................    BA       -10.706      -59.362     -137.095
                                                                      OT       -10.284      -56.833     -131.945
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note.--Section 301(d) of H. Con. Res. 95 does not include Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee
  on Rules and Administration, the Committee on Indian Affairs, and the Committee on Small Business.

  

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