[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 1823-1824]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           WASTEFUL SPENDING

  Mr. COATS. Mr. President, this week the President unveiled his budget 
for fiscal year 2017, and it landed here in the Senate with a big thud.
  This is not the first time that has happened. In fact, when the 
President's budget has been brought up for a vote by the 100 Members of 
the Senate, it has never received more than 1 vote. Both Democrats and 
Republicans have roundly rejected the President's proposals. Why? 
Overspending and overtaxation, driving us ever deeper into debt--nobody 
wants to put their name to that. Yet that is the situation we are in. 
We are in that situation because of the irresponsible policies that 
have been laid upon the American people and put into law by this 
President and by those who have supported him.
  Despite numerous efforts over the past several years to address this 
ever-growing threat to our future, all of these efforts--some of them 
bipartisan, even--have been rejected by the President. They have failed 
due to the President's unwillingness to work with the Congress and to 
put us on a path to fiscal solvency.
  Now, I have been a part of that effort now for the last 5 years. All 
of us throw our hands up in frustration as we watch the debt clock 
click away ever faster, as we watch the debt rising ever greater.
  When the President took office, our national debt--the money we had 
to pay back--was $10.6 trillion. It is almost impossible to describe 
what $1 trillion is. Trust me; it is a lot of money. It was $10.6 
trillion. Today, it is over $19 trillion--nearly double--just in the 
term of this President. And what have we done about it? Nothing. Some 
will say a little bit. We have touched on it a little bit, but it 
continues to rise.
  The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan organization that just 
does the numbers, has told us that in 10 years the debt will rise to 
well over $27 trillion. The shocker is the amount of money that has to 
be spent in paying interest on the debt. Nobody is giving us this money 
for free. We have to pay interest on it because people want interest, 
and they want their principal back. The interest on that, plus the 
mandatory spending--that is, automatic spending over which we have no 
control here unless we put reforms in place--will consume 99 percent of 
all the taxes and revenue that is coming in to pay for these programs. 
So that means we won't be building any roads; we won't be repairing any 
roads. That means we won't be providing research capabilities to the 
National Institutes of Health or the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention. That means we won't have money for viable programs in the 
fields of education, commerce, and transportation. Ninety-nine percent 
is all revenue consumed by just these two items: the mandatory 
spending--which we have lost control over and refuse to take reform 
actions to address--and the interest that has to be paid.
  Well, this is unsustainable. It will all come down with a crash. That 
is why the President's budget this year will be soundly rejected and 
will only receive one vote, if it gets that.
  I am not giving up. I am looking at the major reforms that are 
necessary, even if we start today, even in an election year. I 
personally think the public is way ahead of us on this, and they will 
reward people who stand up and tell them the truth: Folks, we are going 
broke, and here are the numbers. This isn't political; these are pure 
numbers that come out of a neutral office. Nevertheless, we will see 
whether or not those who are running for office will take up the cause.
  So I thought: Well, OK, we can't do the big stuff. Can we at least 
look at waste, fraud, and abuse? Can we not at least encourage my 
colleagues to take things that have been presented to us--examples of 
waste, fraud, and abuse by inspectors general, by the Congressional 
Budget Office, by the Government Accountability Office that looks into 
all the ways in which we spend money--can't we at least do that? So for 
the last 33 weeks, starting in the last session and moving into this 
session, I have been coming to the floor every week to highlight yet 
another documented example of waste, fraud, and abuse. This is the 33rd 
time.
  Today, this one involves the sum of $25 billion that has not been 
properly accounted for by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 
which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. I spoke 
with the Secretary this morning about it. There are 25 recommendations 
as to how the Department can address this matter, and she is committed 
to that. I know she has the right intent, and we will see if it can be 
accomplished.
  In this particular case private sector contractors partner with the 
CMS, or the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to provide any 
number of products and services to beneficiaries--those on Medicaid and 
Medicare. Federal agencies that administer the contracts are required 
to track the contracts' progress and costs and then close out these 
accounts once the contracts are finalized. There comes the rub. The 
regulations give a grace period of up to 20 months in order to close 
out a contract--to get everything closed down and so forth on these 
contracts. There is a handful of extensions where maybe it takes a 
little bit longer to do that. The timeframe or the grace period is 
intended to prevent improper payments and reduce the agency's financial 
risk and then close it out.
  The inspector general looked at all this and said: Great idea, good 
regulation--but it is not happening. In December the Health and Human 
Services inspector general issued a report of the investigation into 
these terminated contracts. There are over 6,000 contracts that have 
been completed, but $25 billion in funding is overdue--meaning that the 
accounts haven't been closed, which makes CMS vulnerable to improper 
payments.
  Sadly, 15 percent of the completed contracts remained overdue for 
more than 10 years, even though the regulation states they have to be 
closed out within 20 months. It shows the ineptness of this 
bureaucracy. It shows the incompetence of this bureaucracy, the 
inability of this bureaucracy to manage taxpayers' money in an 
effective way, to perform functions in an effective and efficient way. 
It is shocking. It is shocking to have the inspector general come along 
and find that there are thousands of contracts that have been completed 
for years--some over 10 years--and they are still open. The cost of 
that is $25 billion. Even worse, the system that CMS has in place to 
monitor the contracts hasn't been accessible to the bureau within HHS 
responsible for closing the contracts. It is just a complicated mess.
  Once again, we have situations totaling about $25 billion that could 
either be used for more necessary functions, returned to the taxpayer 
or not taken from the taxpayer in the first place. The bottom line is 
that these have been identified and action needs to be taken.
  This Senator continues to add to an ever-growing amount of waste, 
fraud, and abuse totaling, since we have started, a grand total 
approaching $156 billion.
  Having exposed this, the first thing we ought to be doing before we 
begin talking about raising taxes, before talking about a program 
staying in place or not staying in place is going after the waste, 
fraud, and abuse and stopping this outrageous waste of money that is 
occurring.
  The next time we are back in session, I will be back down here with 
more. They just keep pouring in. We keep finding these documents, 
finding this and that. It is unbelievable that we

[[Page 1824]]

have put ourselves in this situation and the ineffectiveness is out of 
control. It is no wonder the public no longer trusts us. If we can't 
get to this, how can we ever get to the reforms necessary to stop us 
from becoming insolvent?
  With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. 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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