Right Now

Mar 21 2013

Coburn Offers Amendments to the Senate Budget, Says Everyone is Part of the Solution

A Bona Fide Balanced Approach to Deficit Reduction with No Sacred Cows

Senator Coburn offered amendments to the Senate Budget, S.Con.Res.8.

From the well off to the lower-income, the military, federal employees and the federal bureaucracy, to special interest groups, states, politicians, and Congress itself, when packaged together, the amendments present a balanced approach to deficit reduction that makes everyone part of the solution:

Amendment #401 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 15 financial literacy programs. (Burr) Additional information here. Additional information here.   

Amendment #402 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 160 housing assistance programs. Additional information here.   

Amendment #403 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 253 DOJ grant programs. Additional information here.   

Amendment #404 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 15 unmanned aircraft programs Additional information here.   

Amendment #405 —Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 209 STEM programs. Additional information here.   

Amendment #406 — Amends the employment relief reserve fund to prohibit unemployment payments for individuals with AGI of over $1 million. (Begich) Additional information here.   

Amendment #407 — Reducing Social Security benefits for millionaires.  Create a deficit neutral reserve fund reducing Social Security for individuals with an Adjusted Gross Income of more than $1 million or more to extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund and return the program to its intended purpose as a safety-net for retired Americans. Additional information here.   

Amendment #408 — States pay a fair share for expanding Medicaid.  Create a deficit reduction reserve fund that allows States to expand Medicaid, without the enhanced FMAP that requires the federal government to pay 90 cents of every dollar. (Burr)  Additional information here.

Amendment #409 — Eliminate special hospital payment in Medicare benefiting Massachusetts. Creates a DNRF to sunset the provision in PPACA that increases payments to hospitals in a few States by reducing payments to the majority of States through the Medicare hospital wage index (McCaskill, Baldwin). Additional information here.

Passed 68-31.

Amendment #410 — Creates a deficit reduction reserve fund to allow HSA to count as qualified health plan under the ACA, and allow the employer contribution to HSA to count as offer of credible coverage.  Additional information here.

Amendment #411 — Creates a deficit reduction reserve fund to allow for the furloughing of federal employees with seriously delinquent tax liability. Additional information here.

Amendment #412 — Creates a deficit-reduction reserve fund to end the nonprofit postal discount for state and national political parties.  This amendment would prevent state and national political parties from receiving discounts at a time when the USPS is losing over $40 million a day.  Additional information here.

Passed by a voice vote.

Amendment #413 — No Free Phones. Create a deficit-reduction reserve fund to reform the Lifeline program at the Federal Communications Commission to require minimal payments from subsidized cell phone recipients.  Additional information here.

Amendment #414 — Eliminate special interest tax breaks and loopholes.  Creates a deficit neutral reserve fund to eliminate the special interest tax breaks for the PGA tour, the NFL, NASCAR, Hollywood, Fish Tackle Box, and whaling captains.  Additional information here.

Amendment #415 — Amends the government reform reserve fund to eliminate congressional committees that do not conduct oversight hearings.  Additional information here.

Amendment #416 —End non-defense spending at the Defense Department.  Creates a deficit-neutral reserve fund to remove non-Defense spending from the Defense Department, such as beef jerky and caffeine iPhone apps. Additional information here.

Failed 43 to 56

Amendment #417 — Creates a deficit reduction reserve fund to reduce the income-threshold for the insurance subsidies in ACA. The subsidies currently apply to those with incomes at or below four times the federal poverty level: $60,520 for a family of two. The subsidies should end at 300 percent of the federal poverty level, as they do in Massachusetts, instead of 400 percent. Additional information here.

Amendment #418 — Creates a deficit reduction reserve fund to at least achieve the same level of health care savings in the budget as the President’s Fiscal Commission, or Bowles-Simpson, achieved ($630 billion over ten years). Additional information here.

Amendment #419 —Creates a deficit reduction fund to require prescription opioids subject to abuse to have abuse deterrent formulations. Additional information here.   

Amendment #420 —Amends the government reform reserve fund to require the elimination of overlapping Social Security Disability Insurance Payments and Unemployment Insurance Payments. Additional information here.

Amendment #421 —Amends the reserve fund in the bill relating to assistance for working families to prohibit SNAP funding for junk food purchases. Additional information here.

Amendment #422 —Amends the government reform reserve fund to establish a database for every unclassified report submitted to Congress. Additional information here.

Amendment #423 — Amends the government reform reserve fund to prohibit the sale of federal grants. Additional information here

Amendment #486 — Creates a deficit-neutral reserve fund to end the nonprofit postal discount for state and national political parties.  This amendment would prevent state and national political parties from receiving discounts at a time when the USPS is losing over $40 million a day.  Additional information here

Amendment #556 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 80 economic development programs.  Additional information here.

Amendment #557 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 53 support for entrepreneurs. programs.

Amendment #558 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 17 FEMA preparedness grant programs.

Amendment #559 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 94 Federal green building programs.  Additional information here.  

Amendment #560 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 14 federal diesel emissions programs. 

Amendment #561 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 50 federal early learning and child care programs. 

Amendment #562 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 18 federal domestic food assistance programs. 

Amendment #563 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 80 federal teacher quality programs. 

Amendment #564 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 30 federal food safety programs. 

Amendment #565 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 18 federal defense language and cultural training programs.

Amendment #566 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the 21 federal nuclear nonproliferation programs. 

Amendment #567 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the reduction of the number of generals and flag officers in the Armed Forces.  Additional information here.

Amendment #568 — Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require increased compliance by the agencies with the USAspending.gov transparency website.  Additional information here.

Amendment #569—Amends the deficit-reduction reserve fund for government reform to require the consolidation of the six federal counter-IED efforts.

Amendment #632—Amends the government reform reserve fund to encourage the use of the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative.  Additional information here.

Amendment #633—Amends the government reform reserve fund to establish a database to check for duplicative federal research grants.

Amendment #634—Amends the government reform reserve fund to call for reducing voluntary UN payments. 

Amendment #635—Amends the government reform reserve fund to consolidate the 5 Programs for Reducing Reliance on Petroleum Fuel for Federal Fleet.

Amendment #636—Amends the government reform reserve fund to prohibit NASA funding from going to activities that are outside their goals, such as energy conservation and education.  Additional information here.

Amendment #637—Amends the government reform and efficiency deficit reduction reserve fund to provide for requiring the Department of Defense to auction its unneeded equipment in the United States.

Amendment #638—Amend the government reform and efficiency deficit reduction reserve fund to provide for reducing unnecessary moving costs of enlisted personnel in the United States by lengthening tours at the same base within the continental United States.

Amendment #639—Amends the government reform and efficiency deficit reduction reserve fund to provide for changing a portion of military positions to civilian positions in the areas of logistics and support services.

Amendment #640—Increase the votes needed to waive the spending limits established in the budget. Currently 60 votes. This amendment would require 67 votes to waive point of order for violating spending limits established in this budget. 

Amendment #641—Increase the votes needed to waive the spending limits established in the budget. Currently 60 votes. This amendment would require 67 votes to waive point of order for violating spending limits established in this budget. 

Amendment #642—Amends a reserve fund in the Murray budget that calls for investments in water infrastructure by adding in instructions for them to “prioritize funding for the critical maintenance backlog.”

Amendment #643—Amends the government reform reserve fund to consolidate the 10 programs addressing electronic health records systems for veterans and the military. 

Amendment #644—Amends the government reform reserve fund to prohibit improper payments to deceased individuals, tax cheats, and prisoners.

Amendment #664—Prohibits federal subsidies to slum lords who place children and families in public housing complexes with life threatening conditions or in poor physical condition.

Amendment #665—Prohibits Congress from creating any new commissions or super committees to do its job.

Amendment #666—Prohibits the repayment of federal loans with federal grants.

Amendment #667—Amends the government reform reserve fund to prohibit any agency or program from funding the same project already being funded by another agency or program.

Amendment #668—Amends the government reform reserve fund to prohibit funding for USDA soap operas, USDA Moroccan pottery classes, NASA Martian pizza, NSF robosquirrel, USDA caviar promotion, HUD beauty products for pet, and NASA online rock and roll station.

Amendment #676—Creates a new deficit reduction reserve fund to reduce uncertainty caused by temporary, arbitrary interest rates on federal student loans, and to reduce costs for student borrowers, by basing the fixed interest rate of federally issued student loans on the 10-year Treasury rate plus 3 percentage points for subsidized and unsubsidized loans and 10-year Treasury rate plus 4.1 percentage points for Graduate PLUS and Parent PLUS loans.

Amendment #677—Establishes a deficit-neutral reserve fund preventing any attempts to deprive a citizen of the United States any constitutional rights based on a judgment of a foreign jurisdiction. 

Amendment #678—Would reduce the funding for any congressional committee that does not address the unnecessary duplication within its jurisdiction identified by GAO.  Additional information here.

Amendment #679—Would prohibit the funding or construction of new visitor centers or museums until the White House has been re-opened for public tours.

Amendment #680—Amendment would return the TANF work requirement to the Clinton era by allowing for measures to increase work participation rates under TANF.

Amendment #681—Amends the reserve fund on TANF to allow for an update in the funding formula for TANF. Additional information here.

Amendment #682—Create a new deficit neutral reserve fund to restrict SNAP, TANF, Section 8 and EITC recipients to those at 200% of poverty or below.  Additional information here.

Amendment #683—To prohibit bogus bonuses to contractors for projects that are behind schedule and over budget.

Amendment #684—Amends the housing-related reserve fund to call for consolidation of public housing authorities.  Additional information here.

Amendment #685—Amends a reserve fund in the underlying budget related to providing increased housing benefits to allow for work requirements for Section 8 voucher and public housing recipients.  Additional information here.

Amendment #709—Consolidates several areas of extensive federal duplication as outlined by the Government Accountability Office, including 15 financial literacy programs, 160 housing assistance programs, 15 unmanned aircraft programs, 253 DOJ grant programs, 209 STEM programs, 80 economic development programs, 53 entrepreneurial support programs, 17 FEMA programs, 94 green building programs, 14 diesel emissions programs, 50 early learning and child care programs, 18 domestic food assistance programs, 80 federal teacher quality programs, 18 defense language and cultural training programs, and 21 nuclear nonproliferation programs.  Amendment combines Coburn amendments 401-405 and 556-566.  

Passed 62 to 37



Date Title
3/28/13 Senators Hatch, Grassley, Coburn Request Information on CMS Moratorium Authority in Letter to Secretary Sebelius
3/28/13 Duplication Nation: New Report Identifies 82 Fragmented Federal Wind-Related Programs Costing Billions
3/27/13 Sequester This: Dr. Coburn Calls on Agencies to Cut AWOL Workers Before Furloughing Critical Employees
3/27/13 Dr. Coburn Releases Letter Exchange Regarding DHS Grants Being Used to Pay Police Overtime
3/22/13 Dr. Coburn to Host Town Hall Meetings in Oklahoma
3/21/13 Current record
3/21/13 Coburn and Issa to USPS: Use Your Authority to Proceed with Modified Six-Day Delivery Plans
3/20/13 Senate Votes to Protect Wine Trains over White House Tours; Limits Political Science Grants
3/13/13 Dr. Coburn Offers Amendments to 587-Page, $1 Trillion Continuing Resolution to Fund the Government
3/13/13 Sequester This: Dr. Coburn Calls on Treasury to Place Priority on Tax Payers Instead of Tax Collectors
3/12/13 Sequester This: Dr. Coburn Calls on National Science Foundation to Focus on Transformative Science; Eliminate Funds for Robot Rodents and Attendance to Snow Mobile Conferences
3/8/13 Dr. Coburn Releases Letter to Sen. Schumer on Gun Negotiations Files
3/8/13 Sequester This: Coburn Calls on HUD to Stop Overpaying Slumlords, Housing Authority Executives in Order to Prevent Low-Income Families from Being Evicted
3/7/13 Sequester This: Dr. Coburn Calls on FAA to Stop Hiring Community Planners and Program Assistants, Institute Reforms to Programs Not Releated to Flight Safety
3/6/13 Sequester This: Potentially Furloughed Employees Stay Home Because of SnowQuester, But Feds Still Hiring for Nonessential Positions
3/5/13 Dr. Coburn Releases Joint Letter to FDA on Abuse-Deterrent Opioid Drugs
3/4/13 Sequester This: Dr. Coburn Calls on USDA to Cancel Conferences and Instead Inspect Food