[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 18918-18919]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           WASTEFUL SPENDING

  Mr. COATS. Mr. President, I am here for my now 28th ``Waste of the 
Week.'' I have been coming to the floor of the Senate for 28 weeks 
pointing out government waste.
  Some in this Chamber say we can't cut a penny more. We are down to 
the bone. We are far from it. This is just a small effort, having been 
shot down, in terms of anything larger to do to deal with our fiscal 
situation, because the White House simply does not want to engage in 
it. We at least ought to be able to take steps as a body to eliminate 
the kind of wasteful spending that takes place on a daily basis in 
Washington.
  I have come down once a week to do this. I could come down every day, 
I could come down every hour and point out something in this vast array 
of Federal Government that never stops growing that simply falls in the 
category of waste, fraud, and abuse. So far we are well over our $100 
billion goal of accumulated waste. Today, this is No. 28. Specifically, 
this particular waste of the week is facilitator fraud in the Social 
Security disability insurance fund.
  What is the facilitator fraud? Facilitator fraud is when individuals 
with specialized knowledge use system as a means to fraudulently, 
illegally qualify people to receive SSDI benefits. They look for 
claimants either by putting out ads or using social media or word of 
mouth: Look, you too can get checks from the Federal Government even if 
you are not disabled because we have figured out how to qualify you. We 
will help you process these forms. We have connections with doctors and 
medical providers who will be able to give us written information, even 
though it is fraudulent and illegal, that you can use to justify with 
the Social Security Administration to qualify for Social Security 
disability.
  Then, when those payments start, the facilitators get a percentage of 
that or they have worked out some kind of agreement that you will pay 
us this amount of money if we can get you the claim. Once disability 
payment is made, financial compensation to the facilitator is in place, 
and there is a vicious cycle of fraud and abuse. So instead of robbing 
Peter to pay Paul, Peter and Paul are robbing the Federal Government 
together and reaping the benefits.
  Over the last 5 years, the Social Security Administration has seen an 
amazing increase in fraudulent activity associated with facilitators. 
The estimate is potentially 1 percent and perhaps even more--we haven't 
tied this down yet--of SSDI payments are affected by facilitator fraud. 
We have taken a rough estimate of what this would amount to over a 10-
year period of time and dropped $.4 billion. We think at least $10 
billion over 10 years is a conservative estimate of the waste of 
taxpayers' dollars through fraudulent, illegal means.
  Last month the Social Security inspector general, Patrick O'Carroll, 
testified before the Joint Economic Committee, which I chair, and 
shared his concerns about this question. He said, ``There are people 
out there in positions of trust that the agency relies on for 
information. . . .'' as to determining whether a claim is a legitimate 
claim for coverage. He said, ``And if those people [whom we rely on] 
decide to defraud the government''--by sending in false claims, backed 
up by false medical support, the taxpayer is being taken to the 
cleaners. ``We have found that in some cases the former Social Security 
employees''--that have left the employment of the Federal Government--
``that understand the way the system works then go into conspiracies 
with unscrupulous medical providers

[[Page 18919]]

and attorneys, where they will use improper information and facilitate 
getting in so that a person will get on benefits,'' and they get the 
payment and the rewards.
  Last year, a San Diego-area psychologist confessed to charging his 
patients $200 each to fabricate medical evidence to support their 
disability claims.
  Imagine getting up in the morning, going to your desk, you have the 
credentials of a doctor--in this case a psychologist--to issue an 
opinion as to what the claimant's medical condition is, and then 
participate in this cycle of fraudulent activity and be paid for it. 
That is his job. That is what he does every day. Fortunately, we caught 
him, and that is how we know about this.
  In August of 2013, Federal law enforcement officials and the Puerto 
Rico Police Department arrested 75 people in Puerto Rico and dismantled 
a large-scale disability fraud scheme involving physicians and a 
claimant representative who is also a former Social Security 
Administration employee.
  So not only are individuals doing this, but there are groups of 
individuals who are working through a system. These are just two small 
examples of what is happening. To give some credit, the discovery of 
this has produced some progress in terms of addressing this problem. 
The most recent budget deal reached in the Senate included increased 
funding for what is called the Cooperative Disability Investigation 
Units, which investigate suspicious disability claims and hopefully 
prevents fraud before it happens. Additionally, the Social Security 
Administration's regional Disability Fraud Pilot Program works 
specifically on facilitator fraud across the country trying to identify 
those high-dollar, high-impact cases involving third-party facilitators 
conspiring with claimants to defraud the Social Security 
Administration. It is a pilot program. I don't know why we haven't had 
that program in place from its very inception. Every agency 
distributing funds for individuals should have as a component of that 
agency an investigative process for fraud, waste, and abuse because--
you name the program writing checks to claimants, and I believe we will 
be able to find those that are fraudulently taking money out of 
taxpayers' wallets.
  We are going to keep coming here every week putting the spotlight on 
waste, fraud, and abuse. Today we add another $10 billion to the total, 
which keeps growing and growing. Now it is a total of $128,812 billion 
of documented waste, fraud, and abuse. This is not something we make 
up. This is not something we read about in the paper. This is something 
where agencies of the Federal Government, which have accountability and 
responsibility to try to dig in and find this abuse, provide 
information on a regular basis, but it is something taxpayers simply 
cannot afford, should not be obligated to pay, and highlights the fact 
that we have a government growing beyond its means.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  

  Mr. COATS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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