quote:

Originally posted by Navy_Grunt:
From the website:

Facts about S. 1963 – Caregiver and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act

1. Dr. Coburn is NOT opposing the veterans caregiver bill, he merely wants to debate and amend the legislation to improve it.

2. The veteran caregiver bill currently discriminates against Vietnam veterans, Gulf War I veterans, and World War II veterans.

3. The veteran caregiver bill duplicates an existing program that has been providing benefits for decades to veterans to take care of themselves in their homes rather than nursing homes or hospitals.

4. Unlike the veteran caregiver bill, Dr. Coburn’s amendment increases benefits for all veterans, and reduces wasteful spending in order to guarantee that veterans today and in the future will receive the benefits they have earned, including these new caregiver benefits.

quote:

A GOP senator under fire for blocking a veterans' health care bill that aims to expand mental care and offer home assistance to wounded veterans had a message for his critics: "Show me the money."

Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma family physician, has blocked the $3.7 billion dollar health bill since May because he says the funding for the expanded care may not exist.

"I'm not opposed to doing what we're doing for vets," he said Monday at a news conference. "I just want to make sure it's paid for."

quote:

Originally posted by A_Savage:
It is interesting that he did not seem to worry how the trillions to pay for these wars where going to be paid but gets all concerned when it comes to paying for helping those that where injured in these war.
[and by the way --we are still waiting to see that "so called" proposed amendment]

quote:

Originally posted by Navy_Grunt:

quote:

Originally posted by A_Savage:
It is interesting that he did not seem to worry how the trillions to pay for these wars where going to be paid but gets all concerned when it comes to paying for helping those that where injured in these war.
[and by the way --we are still waiting to see that "so called" proposed amendment]

Nor did a majority of the other Senators from all the parties. As soon as I hear I'll post the link or the socalled proposed amendment(s). So far all I have seen is what he proposed be cut from other progams.

quote:

Originally posted by stec74:
I read Senator Coburn's reasoning behind blocking the bill. His points seem pretty logical to me. Perhaps you should read them.

"http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=a30aaca9-c956-4094-8671-7c1ec004a1cd"

quote:

Originally posted by rayevinsonsr:
Senator Coburn has hogged his way into the limelight everytime, everytime, pork was on the platter. Nothing new, he is the staward of reducing budgetary waste.

You might not agree with his method but he's only continuing what's been done before.


This is standard procedure in the Senate to hold up a popular bill to get your point across. I remember Ted Kennedy holding RR retirement checks as ransome, actually not paying the elderly their funds for two months.

Nothing is so low than a political battle to get your idea's known.

IMHO, he pick the wrong target.

Wasteful, Duplicative, and Obsolete Programs to be Terminated to Pay for
Veterans Caregivers Assistance
· Eliminate the Essential Air Service (EAS). The EAS gives subsidies to air carriers providing service to approximately 115 small communities, roughly one-third of which are located in just one state (Alaska). The President has repeatedly called for the elimination of this program which serves a small population and has a very high per-passenger cost.
Savings: $250M over five years.
· Eliminate Weed & Seed Initiative. The Department of Justice (DOJ) “Weed & Seed” provides federal grants to local law enforcement entities for educational prevention programs, but is duplicative of many current federal programs, including the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance program, COPS, and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
Savings: $310M over five years.
· Eliminate over-the-road bus security assistance. The President proposed eliminating this program since the awards are not based on risk assessment, and the homeland security investments in intercity bus security should be evaluated in the context of the risks faced and relative benefits to be gained by Federal investments across all transportation sectors.
Savings: $60M over five years.
· Eliminate Cotton Storage Costs. Payments to cotton producers to compensate them for their cost of storing cotton that is put under loan with the Department of Agriculture. Cotton is the only commodity for which the Government unconditionally provides this assistance.
Savings: $279M over five years.
· Eliminate the Resource Conservation and Development Program. The Resource Conservation and Development Program funds coordinators in 375 Resource Conservation and Development Districts in every State, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Basin. First begun in 1962, the program was intended to build community leadership skills through the establishment of RC&D councils that would access Federal, State, and local programs for the community's benefit. After 47 years, this goal has been accomplished.
Savings: $255M over five years.
· Eliminate Brownfields revitalization funding. This program is extremely small relative to other programs that address this need. Local governments have access to other public and private funds that can address the same purposes.
Savings: $50M over five years.
· Eliminate Character Education Programs. The Character Education program supports the design and implementation of character education interventions, but a recent review of the evidence base suggests that it is very difficult to produce positive effects on student outcomes through character education programs alone.
Savings: $60M over five years.
· Eliminate Civic Education Programs at the Department of Education. The non-competitive awards provided by the Civic Education program and the Close-Up Fellowships program circumvent the merit-based grant-making process at the Department of Education.
Savings: $165M over five years.
· Eliminate Environmental Infrastructure Construction. Strike Sections 5039, 5061, 5085, 5082, 5065. Water and wastewater infrastructure projects, often referred to as "environmental infrastructure" projects, are outside the Corps of Engineers' main mission areas of commercial navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, and significant aquatic ecosystem restoration.
Savings: $250M over five years.
· Eliminate the National Institute for Literacy. NIFL has had minimal success in fulfilling its mission to coordinate literacy services across the Federal Government. Efforts to provide national literacy leadership could be coordinated more efficiently by the Office of Vocational and Adult Education within the Department of Education.
Savings: $250M over five years.
· Eliminate Rail Line Relocation Grants. An alternative program achieves the same goal based on a formula allocation that allows States to set their own priorities. Most of the Rail Line Relocation Program funds are directed to earmarks rather than distributed through a need or merit- based process.
Savings: $125M over five years.
· Eliminate the Ready to Teach Grant Program. The Ready to Teach (RTT) program contains design flaws that reflect outdated ideas on the content and delivery of teacher professional development. In lieu of this program, the Administration supports teacher professional development through other Department programs and activities.
Savings: $55M over five years.
· Eliminate the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC) State Grants program. The SDFSC State Grants program provides formula funds intended to help create and maintain drug-free, safe, and orderly environments for learning in and around schools. While reducing violence and drug use in and around schools is a compelling goal, reviews by an independent evaluator and by a statutory advisory committee have demonstrated that this program is poorly matched to achieving that goal.
Savings: $295M over five years.
· Eliminate the Center Between East and West. The East-West Center (EWC) is a nonprofit organization governed by an international board. It was established in 1960 at the University of Hawaii to promote U.S.- Asia Pacific understanding and relations by bringing Americans and individuals from the Asia Pacific region to the Center for policy-oriented study, training, and research.
Savings: $120M over five years.
· Eliminate Tropical Forest and Coral Conservation Funding. This act protects the world's most valuable tropical forests and coral reefs by forgiving debts owed the United States by developing countries in exchange for the preservation of significant tropical forests and coral reefs.
Savings: $20M over five years.
· Eliminate funding for the Asia Foundation. This organization, founded in the 1960s to help fight against the Soviet Union, administers programs to support training and technical assistance to strengthen civil society and democratic institutions in Asia.
Savings: $95M over five years.
· Establish a pilot program to divest the federal government of unneeded property.
The Federal government has tens of thousands of buildings and real estate that sit each year unused. This program will establish a five year pilot program which would give the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) temporary authority to sell or demolish property that the federal government owns but no longer needs. The current process in place for disposing of unneeded federal buildings is inefficient and cumbersome. The amendment would both expedite the process and create a financial incentive for agencies to sell the property they no longer need.
Savings: $600M over five years.


"http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=LatestNews.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=db266387-802a-23ad-4829-3da569198f69

quote:

Originally posted by IHAWKER:
Senator stalls wounded veterans’ caregiver bill

More than a month after a new fiscal year began Oct. 1, the House and Senate are still pressing to pass a group of bills to improve veterans’ benefits and health programs, rolling them together in “omnibus” legislative packets.

The omnibus bills can then be shaped by final compromises between the two chambers and passed relatively quickly, often by voice vote, so lawmakers can move on to other business.

Standing athwart those plans this month, however, is Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a family physician whose top goal as a lawmaker has been to slow the rising tide of debt caused, he says, by colleagues who are willing to pass or spend whatever is necessary to assure their re-election.

Coburn frequently uses his prerogative as a senator to put a hold on bills. In this case, it is a $3.7 billion packet of health care initiatives called the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009.

Read full article at...

>>>http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65904

quote:

Originally posted by I_M_Qwerty:
-snip-The turds here are the senators that refuse to make the hard choices to pay for the bill ... and in doing so, support both the House of Representatives' and the President's commitment to pay-go. The cause is worthy ... the unwillingness to pay for it is shameful.

quote:

Originally posted by LineDoggie:

quote:

Originally posted by IHAWKER:
Senator stalls wounded veterans’ caregiver bill

More than a month after a new fiscal year began Oct. 1, the House and Senate are still pressing to pass a group of bills to improve veterans’ benefits and health programs, rolling them together in “omnibus” legislative packets.

The omnibus bills can then be shaped by final compromises between the two chambers and passed relatively quickly, often by voice vote, so lawmakers can move on to other business.

Standing athwart those plans this month, however, is Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a family physician whose top goal as a lawmaker has been to slow the rising tide of debt caused, he says, by colleagues who are willing to pass or spend whatever is necessary to assure their re-election.

Coburn frequently uses his prerogative as a senator to put a hold on bills. In this case, it is a $3.7 billion packet of health care initiatives called the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009.

Read full article at...

>>>http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65904

Good for Him, we cant spend like Drunken Seamen in 50's Havana. Obama and Pelosi must get a cut on Printing money they way they've been spending it.

quote:

Originally posted by rayld2:

quote:

Originally posted by I_M_Qwerty:
-snip-The turds here are the senators that refuse to make the hard choices to pay for the bill ... and in doing so, support both the House of Representatives' and the President's commitment to pay-go. The cause is worthy ... the unwillingness to pay for it is shameful.

Don't forget that Sen Colburn did not get religion on pay as you go until his party lost control. I wonder why?
Repub Borrow and spend
Demo tax and spend
Both bad but tax and spend is more honest than borrow and spend. Especially when you brag about cutting taxes and being fiscal conservatives while doing the borrow and spend.

quote:

WASHINGTON - Jan 5, 2007 - The House has voted to reinstate budget rules designed to curb the budget deficit.

The vote was 280-to-154 to reinstate the so-called "pay as you go" rule. It requires that any increase in entitlement spending or tax cut be somehow offset so as to not to increase the deficit.

<more>

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16487187/

quote:

Washington Times - Feb 23, 2009 - President Obama and his advisers sounded an alarm Monday on the ballooning $1.3 trillion federal deficit, saying that it would get worse and offering tough talk with a promise the administration will cut the deficit in half by reverting to pay-as-you-go rules.

<more>

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/23/obama-announces-stimulus-oversight-board/

quote:

WASHINGTON - Jun 9, 2009 - President Barack Obama on Tuesday challenged Congress to pay for new increases in federal benefit programs as it goes rather than sink the nation deeper into a debt, calling it a matter of public responsibility.

<more>

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31188422/

quote:

Originally posted by rayld2:

quote:

Originally posted by I_M_Qwerty:
-snip-The turds here are the senators that refuse to make the hard choices to pay for the bill ... and in doing so, support both the House of Representatives' and the President's commitment to pay-go. The cause is worthy ... the unwillingness to pay for it is shameful.

Don't forget that Sen Colburn did not get religion on pay as you go until his party lost control. I wonder why?
Repub Borrow and spend
Demo tax and spend
Both bad but tax and spend is more honest than borrow and spend. Especially when you brag about cutting taxes and being fiscal conservatives while doing the borrow and spend.