[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 172 (Thursday, December 1, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6644-S6645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           WASTEFUL SPENDING

  Mr. COATS. Madam President, today marks the 54th version of ``Waste 
of the Week''--54 times I have been down here in the Senate to 
highlight documented examples of waste, fraud, and abuse. When I first 
started this endeavor, I told my staff: I hope we can reach $100 
billion or so--some target. Do you think there is that much waste, 
fraud, and abuse floating around through the Federal Government?
  Well, we hit that $100 billion a long time ago--I think about the 
20th week--and we now have moved to a pretty staggering number, which 
is more than one-third of a trillion dollars of waste that has been 
documented by independent agencies of the government that are 
supporting us with information as to why this money should not have 
been spent or how it was wasted or lost through fraud or abuse.
  I have had a number of serious issues here that run into the billions 
of dollars that could easily be fixed. Some of them we started by 
pointing this out with legislation to try to fix these things, but it 
just keeps piling on here. So every once in a while, I throw in 
something so ridiculous, people will understand the fact that there may 
have been some benefit to that program--we don't understand what the 
benefit was--but surely these ridiculous examples of money spent, hard-

[[Page S6645]]

earned tax money spent, are not used for this purpose. Tell me it is 
not true. Unfortunately, it is true. So today I am adding two more 
examples of something where people say: How can this be possible? The 
total ends up at about another $1.5 million.
  One of the studies funded by grants from the National Science 
Foundation totaled $1.3 million. The researcher's application stated 
they would use the grant funds to examine a variety of factors, one of 
which was, how does humidity affect the heat that we feel? So, you 
know, if you go to Florida and it is 90 degrees, you have to shower 
three times a day. You are sweating, and it feels like it is 110, but 
the temperature says 90. If you go to Arizona and it is 90 degrees, you 
don't have to take a shower at all because you can go out and take a 
run, and it is so dry, you don't feel that heat you would feel in 
Florida.
  I have the same situation in Indiana. Northern Indiana is up near the 
Great Lakes. It is much cooler and has lower humidity than Southern 
Indiana, which lies down along the Ohio River. So it can be the same 
temperature down in southern Indiana as northern Indiana, but people 
really feel that it is different.
  I think we all know this. We have all experienced this through 
summers, through dry days and through humid days. But, no, the National 
Science Foundation said: We need a study. Let's give a grant for 
someone who has made an application--$1.3 million--to see if we can 
prove that humidity makes it feel as though it is a lot hotter.
  So that is what they did. Folks, I can't make this up. This is true. 
In their initial study, they took beer cans and koozies. Do you know 
what koozies are? Koozies are those things that you wrap around a cold 
bottle of Coca Cola or a cold bottle of beer or a can of this or that 
in order to keep it cold. They put these beer cans in koozies to see if 
that would be successful in moderating the humidity or what it would do 
to it.
  The researcher's initial round of testing was done in a basement 
bathroom, where researchers adjusted the temperature and humidity by 
turning on a hot-water shower and a space heater.
  Now, you think, OK, NSF gave us $1.3 million to try to put a study 
together. You would think they would go to some kind of lab and get 
sophisticated equipment and so forth. Instead, they went down into the 
basement bathroom, shut the door, and turned on the shower, hot water. 
That wasn't enough, so they put a space heater in there to heat it up. 
Guess what. The koozies worked.
  Well, when you go buy a product this winter at Christmastime, 
everybody is going to go out and buy stuff. Companies will test 
something that they want to sell, that they think is going to be bought 
by the American people. They are successful. Do we have to provide a 
government grant to help determine whether this works? Can't we just go 
to the company and say: Hey, you developed this. What were your 
studies? What did you learn?
  Anyway, that was $1.3 million. I think we have a photo. Here it is. 
Here, essentially, is what $1.3 million bought. They got a little 
something to measure with, and they put a can over this--- looks like 
Gatorade or some kind of Powerade or whatever. I suppose the money went 
to buy some of this equipment here to test that. But does the taxpayer 
have to do this? Is $1.38 million of money taken from taxpayers' 
paychecks--is that what it is used for? Well, I guess this is great 
news for beverage drinkers, but it is mind-boggling that we spend that 
kind of money.
  The second thing I would highlight here is another study, this one by 
DARPA. DARPA is the Federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. 
For over 50 years--and I admire this Agency--it has done a lot of good 
things. This little-known Agency states that it is held to a singular 
and enduring mission that is on their literature: to make pivotal 
investments in breakthrough technologies for national security 
purposes. That is a needed, essential use of Federal dollars, to make 
sure that our warfighters have the kind of equipment and have the kind 
of research backing up what they are doing. So that is a legitimate 
expenditure. But why did DARPA decide that understanding why coffee 
sometimes spills when you are walking is a matter of national security? 
Now, maybe if the coffee is hot and it gets on the soldier's hands or 
whatever--the Presiding Officer has had military experience. I am not 
sure that, as someone in command, you would authorize a study to see 
that if you were moving when you had a cup of coffee in your hand, you 
were more likely to spill the coffee than if you were standing still. 
Trust me, folks--that is what this study was all about. Here was the 
conclusion of the study: To prevent a spill, you need to pay attention 
to your coffee while you are walking because the movement might result 
in a spill.
  Now, a confession here. On my way to work--I drive in from Virginia. 
I have to go by a bakery shop on Lee Highway. I slip in there every 
morning--it has now become a habit; I have gotten to know the people--
for a donut and a cup of coffee. But I don't want to waste time trying 
to get to work, so I jump into the car and eat the donut and drink the 
coffee while I am trying to deal with traffic in Washington and get 
over the bridges and get to work. I have noticed over time that if I 
have to put the brakes on a little hard or start a little fast or make 
a quick turn, my coffee spills out of the cup. So all they would have 
had to do was to buy my coffee, and I could have proved to them that 
movement would require liquid to move also, and if they are worried 
about coffee spilling out of the cup, I could have proved that, and all 
they had to do was buy me a donut and a cup of coffee.
  Where does all of this come down? Where this all comes down is the 
fact that we are nearly $20 trillion in debt. We cannot balance our 
budget. We spend more every year than we take in. We have to go out and 
borrow that money, on which we then have to pay interest. By the way, 
interest rates are going up. When we are in this kind of a fiscal 
situation, can we not at least, as a body, stop this waste, fraud, and 
abuse and these stupid expenditures and ridiculous expenditures of 
taxpayer money?
  This here is just a drop in the bucket. We have much bigger things to 
do to save taxpayers' dollars. But at the very least, could we not 
address the waste, abuse, and fraud that is taking place? I have 
offered legislation on a number of ways to do that.
  I know the majority leader is moving to the floor here and I need to 
wrap up, so I will. At the end of 54 times down here on the Senate 
floor, we have a total of $351,587,239,536 of documented, certified 
waste, fraud, and abuse. We wonder why the American people are fed up 
with the status quo of what is happening here in Washington.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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