They clearly tell you what theyre going to do. But families can more often and better than the government decide what they want in their insurance policy than the government can decide what they want in their insurancepologies. The stacks of letters that m evy member of my staff got, about people who dont understand why they need policies that cover a half a dozen things had a they couldnt ever possibly use and who dont understand why now those policies are so expensive that they can no longer afford to have the policy that they had, who dont understand why cutting medicare to start a new Government Program makes sense because, mr. President , it didnt make sense and it doesnt make sense to cut a program that clearly is facing challenges as our society gets older to cut funding for that program by 600 billion or 700 billion over ten years so you could start a new program that the costs are clearly going to be so much more than anybody anticipated. Im pleased to join my friends today whove been here for several minutes now, the better part of this last hour, talking about the challenges we face. And we know that there are better solutions. More competition would have been one of those solutions. Buying across state lines would have been one of those solutions. Associated health plans where you could take your Small Business or an individual, find some group to become part of, and the government could have made that easier instead of making it illegal and impossible. More transparency by providers. Id like to know what hospitals and providers charge and what they are results are. And they know. Theres no reason that that couldnt be made available. In fact, one of the better provisions in the Affordable Care act says the government is supposed to do that but of all the things the government could have done, thats something that the government hasnt yet found time to do. Medical Liability Reform there were a double handful and maybe even just a single handful of things we could have done to say, lets try these things and see if they dont make the system work better and see what lesson we learn by injecting these two or three or four or five things into a Health Care System that was the best system in the world; it just didnt have the amount of competition, transparency, and access it needed to have. And so, mr. President , i would continue to hope that well go move forward, learn the hardlearned lessons of the implementation of this plan, and go back and find what was working so well and figure out what we need to do to make that work even better. And i would yield the floor. Mr. Cornyn mr. President . The presiding officer the senior senator from texas. Mr. Cornyn mr. President , yesterday i came to the floor and spoke about president obamas reluctance to see reluctance to see first hand the ongoing and growing humanitarian crisis occurring on the u. S. Mexican border. And said i came to the floor to renew that call, as other elected officials from both sides of the aisle have done, to please come to the border where this humanitarian crisis is unfolding. I know because its reported the president will be in texas for two days starting tomorrow. Hell be there wednesday on the one hand thursday on hell be therence with did i antherence n a fundraising trip. Please come see it request your pleas come see it with your own eyes. Talk to the Border Patrol. Learn from not only the migrants who have traversed mexico at the rick of their own at the risk of their own lives, but find out what we need to do to deal with the ongoing crisis and what we need to do to solve it. And i urged him to do so not as a political statement but so he can witness what is a very sad and tragic in many ways tragic situation and one that could have been mitigated, if not prevented, a situation that is unfortunately a humanitarian crisis, which his policies and their perception about his commitment to enforce our laws has helped create. Given the white houses recent announcement that the president refuses to visit the Rio Grande Valley this week, it unfortunately appears that my request here again today will fall on deaf ears. And, therefore, it suggests to the American People that either the president doesnt really understand this border crisis or he simply doesnt care. Now, to give thes president a fair shake, ive been with the president after the tragic shootings at fort hood in 2009 in this last year. I have are a been with the president at the Memorial Service in west, where First Responders were tragically killed as a result of an explosion. Why he is so stubborn and hardheaded that he refuses to visit the rio grande value i will and witness this ongoing humanitarian crisis with his own eyes really is mystifying. Well, the governor perry has been doing what ive been doing and urging the president to visit the border, and he happened to share with the media governor perry, that is last night a white house letter inviting him to an immigration round table in dallas. Well, this crisis is unfolding on the border, not in dallas, and so i brought with me a map of texas so the president can see this for himself. See, this is dallas. This is where the crisis is unfolding in the Rio Grande Valley. Thats about 500 miles away. Thankfully, the president doesnt have to fly commercial. He flies in air force one. My guess is it probably would take him an hour out of his scheduled activities in texas to go to the border and maybe another hour on the ground to talk to the Border Patrol, as i did last week, and to see these children jammed in detention facilities and Border Patrol detention spaces and to talk to some of them, as i did in my visit last week. I think it would be helpful to the president. I think one of the biggest problems that president s have is they end up livings i benefitina bubble and they end up living in a bubble and they only get information thats been filter filtered. Sometimes president s dont understand, they are tonedeaf to the problems that confront the country. And thats why it would be in the best interest of my constituents in texas. These whthats why it would be e best interest of these children that are part of this humanitarian crisis. Thats why it wab a contribution toward a solution to this crisis if the president would simply come 500 miles from dallas, texas, where he invited governor perry to a round table, down to the Rio Grande Valley. Now, as i said, the president s trip to texas will focus on fundraising, and i understand that. But the problem is, his policies have had a disproportionate impact on my constituent who live along the u. S. Mexican border. In fact, it is my recollection, mr. President , that the president of the United States is not has not once visited the Rio Grande Valley where a majority of this ongoing crisis is taking place. You know, he did come to el paso back in 2011, and when people suggested that we had a problem with security at the border, he he ridiculed them by saying, well, maybe we ought to buy a moat along the border. Thats actually insulting coming from a person whos never actually been to the border, particularly the Rio Grande Valley, where a majority of these children are crossing. And indeed over time, whats happened is much of the illegal immigration that comes across the border has migrated from nogales in arizona to the Rio Grande Valley. And if you you cant see it on this map, but if you understand the geography here, most of these children are coming from Central America, and the shortest distance from guatemala and honduras to the United States is through the rys through the rio grande value live texas. This is also a place where the president ought to go visit, a location where ive been in Brooks County. This is where the falfurious checkpoint is located. They found many dead bodies of immigrants who died from exposure near the checkpoint in falfurious. Coyotes will bring people across the border, put them in stash houses. What will then happen is the could iicouldcoyotesor smugglern trucks up the highway. Theyll say, get out of the truck. Here is a jug full of water, a gallon gorks a milk jug full of water. Well see you on the north side of the checkpoint. And so dozens, if not hundreds, if not thousands of immigrants over time walk try to walk, some in the 100degreeplus texas weather around this checkpoint and some simply dont make t and i it. And if you understand where they come from, some from as far away as Central America, some are already ill from exposure and for many of them, their last steps are there in Brooks County trying to walk around this checkpoint in falfurious. I think the president would benefit from doing what ive done and visitin visiting the rs in Brooks County and learning more about the problem and how we might effect a solution. But if you refuse to go out of stubborn pride or whatever the reasoning is, then youre sumly going to be ignorant of what are the best ways we could Work Together to solve this underlying problem. In recent weeks, mr. President , ive shared only a few of the many horrific stories regarding the dangerous journey that countless numbers of children take to get to the United States from Central America. They call the train that many of them ride in these corridors controlled by the cartels, that treat human beings like a commodity like drugs, guns they treat human beings like a commodity that makes money for them, up through these corridors ton the back of a train system they call the beast. There is a chilling book written by a salvadoran journalist Oscar Martinez about the beast. And in it you find out that six out of ten, maybe more, women who come umalon come up along tn system known as the beast are sexually assaulted. Migrants are routinely held for ransom by the gangs and many of them simply dont make it. I shudder to think how many of the young children, some as old as five, never make it to the border because they die in the process. Thats not thats not humanitarian. Thats not friendly. Thats cruel. And we ought to be telling the truth about this horrific journey and discouraging parents from sending their children from Central America up through mexico on the back of the beast only to die in the process or to be assaulted, to be kidnapped, or horribly injured and maimed. Well, this is one of the many reasons i didnt think the president would benefit from a visit why i think the president would benefit from a visit. It is hard to ignore the facts, especially when you see them with your own eyes and you get a chance to talk to our hardworking, professional Border Patrol that do an incredible job with limited resources. But part of the problem, when you have 52,000 children coming across the southwestern border just at th at the rio grande ser since october, 39,000 women with minor children detained at the south in the rio grande sector, unless you go and at that talk to the Border Patrol and learn about this with your own ears and eyes, you may not realize that drug interdictions are depressed because our Border Patrol is basically trying to change diapers and deal with the humanitarian crisis and isnt available because theyre overwhelmed by people. Theyre unable to do one of their principal jobs, which is to interdict illegal drug importations into the United States. So i hope the president will reconsider. Hes not going to texas until tomorrow. My understanding is hell be there two days, and certainly he has an hour or two hours out of his schedule that he can dedicate to seeing the crisis for himself and learning more about it and then coming back and working with us to try to stop it. Of course we all feel nothing but sympathy for the children and families who sacrificed their lives trying to make it to the United States but failed because of the impression that our immigration laws simply will not be enforced. Many of my colleagues have come to the floor and said, well, if we would just pass the comprehensive immigration bill that the Senate Passed last year, that would do it. Well, i would say with all respect, thats demonstrably false, because even the president , secretary johnson of the department of Homeland Security have conceded that none of these children would be eligible under the president s deferred action executive order. None of them would be eligible for entry to stay in the United States. So passing that law would have nothing to do with this current crisis. Between president obamas failure to enforce our immigration laws and his evershifting explanations, its no wonder hes lost credibility on this issue. Many americans simply dont have confidence that the president is willing to faithfully execute the laws of the United States, including our immigration laws. No wonder Speaker Boehner and so many of our house colleagues have gotten so frustrated, theyve decided maybe the only alternative is to take the president to court. Well, we know the president has had a pretty bad couple of weeks when it comes to overreach, and hes been rebuked several times recently for unconstitutional acts like trying to determine when the senate is in recess and evade the confirmation process here. But if the president wants to know why we havent been able to pass immigration reform, all he has to do is look in the mirror. All he has to do is look at his own policies which are created in an enormous amount of distrust between not only congress and the executive branch, but in his agencies that they will actually do what theyre supposed to do, like the department of Homeland Security, the immigrations and customs enforcement, i. C. E. , and the other components of the department of Homeland Security. Given all the differing narratives coming out of the white house concerning this surge of unaccompanied minors, its time for the president to directly address the problem. Now i know the president has sent over today a 3. 7 billion request for more money. And i have no doubt that some pieces of it are justified. For example, we need enhanced detention facilities. We need more Immigration Judges and others, other people as part of that process so hearings can be conducted on a timely basis and a legal determination made according to existing law whether people can stay or whether they have to be returned to their country of origin. But visiting the border is just one in a series of steps that the president could take to regain some of his own credibility but also to help address the, this crisis. This is not just a humanitarian crisis. This is also a National Security crisis, as recently testified to by the head of southern command, general kelly, a marine general who is head of that combatant command. He is in charge of that area of the globe from mexico south, known as southern command. And he says because of inadequate resources and equipment and manpower to deal with the drug cartels moving Illegal Drugs from south america up to north america, the United States, 75 of the time general kelly said, they simply have to sit and watch because they dont have the resources. Well, i would hope that some of the money thats included in this 3. 7 billion request would be dedicated to make sure that general kelly and our Law Enforcement agencies have the resources and equipment necessary to stop the drug cartels moving drugs from south america through Central America and up through mexico. And as general kelly said, you have this intersection of criminal conduct and terrorism that sometimes takes place in organizations like hezbollah, for example, that established a presence in south america historically and it doesnt take a Rocket Scientist to figure out this vulnerability can be exploited by other people and not just the drug cartels. And the question remains if you have enough money can you make it into the United States . Unfortunately i think we have to answer that question in the affirmative. Last year alone 414,000 people were detained on our southwestern border, from 100 different countries. 100 different countries. So this just isnt about people who have no hope and no opportunity trying to come to the United States from mexico and trying to get a job. This is about uncontrolled immigration through our southwestern border from all over the world. Admittedly most of them come from mexico and Central America, but this is a vulnerability when people can come from pakistan, they can come from afghanistan, they can even come from iran, countries with special interests. Countries that are state sponsors of international terrorism. So this is worthy of the president s attention and worthy of a president ial visit. And i hope he will change his mind and do that. I think president obama needs a wakeup call. He needs to realize that the situation along the border is not as rosy as perhaps he is under the impression that it is. And only by visiting the border and visiting firsthand and seeing with his own eyes and listening with his own ears to the professionals working there so hard they are simply overwhemed. Will he be able to get a good idea of not only what the problem is but what the solution rs. And then, only then i believe will he be ready and we be ready to sit down together through this request the president sent us and figure out how we can solve the problem. Once again, i hope the president will reconsider his decision. Since hes going to be in texas anyway for wednesday and thursday, go to the border 500 miles away, air force one, easy to get there, wont take much time, spend an hour on the ground and then i think he will come away glad that he has taken advantage and accepted this vin ation by governor perry and me and other texans to come see the problem for himself. Mr. President , i yield the floor. Mrs. Murray mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from washington. Mrs. Murray mr. President , i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mrs. Murray mr. President , i believe when it comes to caring for our nations heroes, we cant accept anything less than excellence. Like many of my colleagues, ive been very troubled by the most recent allegations of v. A. Failing to provide veterans with Timely Health care. The v. A. Generally offers very highquality health care and does many things as well or better than the private sector. But when you are caring for our nations heroes and you have the backing of the full resources of the federal government, just as good is not enough. We expect more. So im very frustrated to be here again talking about these deeply disturbing issues and the departments repeated failures to change. G. A. O. And the Inspector General have reported on these problems many times over the years, and last congress we did a great deal of work around wait times, particularly for Mental Health care. I think the v. A. Is starting to see that business as usual is not acceptable. The administration has taken steps to begin addressing some of the major systemwide problems, but much more needs to be done. Tomorrow when i meet with the president s nominee for the v. A. Secretary, im going to ask him how he plans to make these changes, and thats why im very glad to be serving on the veterans conference committee, because Congress Needs to act as well. The most important thing we can do right now is to pass responsible and effective legislation to bring muchneeded reforms to v. A. And we need to do it soon. There have been major bipartisan efforts in both the house and senate to move legislation addressing these problems. Many members have been part of those efforts and i commend them all for their commitment to bipartisanship and for putting the needs of our Veterans First. Now its time we continue to build on this bipartisan momentum and continue making progress if were going to address some of the immediate accountability and transparency concerns that are plaguing the v. A. And to fix its deep seeded, structural and cultural challenges. I know members have a wide range of concerns with the bills and i believe we can address those concerns responsibly and in a twhai puts our Veterans First in a way that puts our Veterans First and gives the v. A. The tools they need to address the challenges they face. That means building and strengthening the v. A. System so it delivers the best care for the long term. But it is important, mr. President , for us to act quickly, to start making these changes. We cannot allow this process to break down. Veterans are still waiting to get the care they need. Many of us were rightly outraged the v. A. Did not act to help veterans because the department ignored all the information and did nothing. This Congress Must not do the same thing and fail veterans by not acting. So i urge all of our colleagues to work as hard and as quickly as possible to finalize an agreement and get it to the president. More problems will be uncovered and the investigations will proceed and we will need more action from the v. A. , the administration and congress because our nation made a promise to the men and women who answered the call of duty in one of the most important ways we uphold that is by making sure that our veterans can get access to the health care they need and they deserve, no matter what it takes. Mr. President , i also want to talk about another important issue that Congress Needs to act on, and that is the looming crisis in the Highway Trust Fund. Like other states around the country, my home state of washington relies on the Highway Trust Fund to pay for Construction Projects. These are projects that ease traffic on our highways, that repair bridges and make safety improvements. This year, for example, officials in Washington State have planned to use money from the Highway Trust Fund to improve safety at Railroad Crossings in centralia, plan to replace anchor cages on bridges in seattle and plan to repave roads across the state, to fix potholes and to make roads smoother for our drivers. But here in d. C. , the department of transportation and many of us in congress have been warning for months that the Highway Trust Fund needs more revenue to pay for these critical projects. In my home state and across the country, wowtd it, the trust fund without it the trust fund is going to reach critically low levels next month. This is coming just a few months after republicans pushed us into a government shutdown. If Congress Fails to act soon, families and businesses and states will see another shutdown, this time with highway projects around the country. I had hoped that we would be able to get this done by now. The last thing i can tell you that the American People want to see right now is another countdown clock on the evening news. But we still have a chance, mr. President , to get this done before its too late. Instead of lurching to yet another crisis and putting our Construction Projects at risk, lets Work Together and do the right thing for our families and our workers and the economy. Mr. President , the clock is ticking for congress to find the muchneeded revenue. Starting august 1, the department of transportation said it will start delaying payments to our states for projects that ease traffic on clogged highways and make important repairs for our bridges. On average, states will lose 28 of their federal funding. Without that money, many states are going to have to delay or stop work on their construction sites. Officials in my home state set up to 43 highway projects could be threatened and across the country more than 1,000 Construction Projects could be at risk, according to the department of transportation. Mr. President , if there is one thing that democrats and republicans should be able to agree on, and usually do, its that we should be investing in and improving our transportation infrastructure. Not letting it crumble. A construction shutdown would threaten jobs and businesses. If states have to scale back their plans, companies are going to hire fewer workers to repair and improve roads and bridges across the country. Without a fix nearly 700,000 jobs will be at risk next year according to the department of transportation. Lets remember the Construction Industry was one of the hardest hit sectors after the economic turn down and it has not fully bounced back. Allowing our Highway Trust Fund to dip critically low levels would deliver another blow to the construction sector as it is struggling to recover. Mr. President , last fall families and communities across our country were forced to endure a completely unnecessary government shutdown. That shutdown, we all know, hurt our workers and threatened a very fragile economic recovery, and it shook the confidence of the American People who expect their elected officials to come together and avoid unnecessary crisis. Mr. President , i was proud to work with democrats and republicans at the end of last year to pass a bipartisan budget deal that prevented another government shutdown. It restored critical investments in families in the economy and it put a halt to the constant budget crisis. And i was proud to build on that bipartisan momentum and work with my friend, senator isakson and others, on a Work Force Investment deal that passed the senate with strong bipartisan support and we hope, by the way, that that will pass the house tomorrow and get signed into law. We know bipartisanship work is possible. We know the countrys better for it when it happens. We know its what families we represent expect from all of us. So today im calling on republicans to work with us in good faith, to do the right thing and help us avoid this construction shutdown. I know Republican Leaders once again are worried about their tea party fringe pushing them into another unnecessary crisis but i hope theyre able to push them aside and work with us to get this done. Republicans saw how devastating it was for them and their constituents when they hurt the country with the government shutdown. Im hopeful that that gives them any additional incentive they may need to work with us this time. State and local governments, workers, businesses and drivers are looking to us to resolve this crisis and avoid another shutdown. States cannot afford important highway Construction Projects without this important Highway Trust Fund. Families cant afford to have a few members of congress putting jobs at risk again. And with the clock winding down fast, we cannot afford to put this off any longer. So lets resolve this looming crisis. Lets Work Together and prevent a construction shutdown in the summer for our economy, for our businesses and for our families across the country. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor and i suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call a senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from pennsylvania. Mr. Casey thank you, madam president. I would ask that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Casey thank you, mr. President. I would ask consent to speak as if in morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Casey i rise this afternoon to talk about the challenge that we have to make sure that every child in america who is eligible for one of the programs that help children have enough to eat and have knew nutritious food, t every one of those who are eligible are getting served. The problem we have across the country is that we have got a number of children who are receiving meals during the school year, either a School Breakfast or the School Breakfast program or School Lunch Program, so at some point in time, theyre getting a meal at school and maybe more than one meal, and then they go home for the summer and even though they are eligible for the summer programs which tend to be in different locations, maybe not at one school or one central location, a lot of children dont get the benefit of those programs in the summer. So its the the program name is the Summer Food Service program. Many americans may have heard of the School Lunch Program or School Breakfast. Probably have heard less about the Summer Food Service program. We know that even though children are taking a Summer Vacation from school, hunger does not take a Summer Vacation. Hunger is always a clear and present danger, a reality for children, especially children in lowincome communities or lowincome families. So this is a a reality for so many children, millions of them across the country and their families, but its also preventable. Its a tragedy when a child doesnt have enough to eat, but this is preventable if we do the right thing. We know that during the school year when you add up all the children who receive a meal at school, it amounts to about 21 million children. Thats the good news that that many children are being served. The bad news is when they go home for their Summer Vacation, by one count the last count that we have, only three million children are getting a summer meal, even though as high as 21 million are eligible or 21 million received that kind of help during the school year. In my home state of pennsylvania, the dropoff the last number we have is during the course of the year, just about 777,000 receive a meal, about three quarters of a million children. The problem, though, is the summer number goes way down to at last count 105,000, just a little more than 105,000, so a little more than a 71 difference between the school year and the summer program. So one of the things we have to do is to get the word out, and thats why i brought along this poster that highlights it. To find a site in your state or your community, the many sites, tens of thousands of them across the country, you may need to inquire about it, you may need to make a phone call. So to find out more about summer meal sites, we have two numbers. 18663hungry. And then a different 800 number, 18778hambre. Thats, of course, in spanish. And we want to make sure that in addition to knowing the 800 numbers, you have a web site, pasummermeals. Com. That, of course, applies to pennsylvania. Thats not a National Number or a national web site. But pasummermeals is one word, dotcome. But these Nursing Homes are the National Number. The 8663hungry and then 8778hambre. So thats one way to find out for for families to find out, for advocates, anyone who is concerned about this or wants to know more about what their community has available to them, because, as i said before, its different than the circumstance during the year. During the year, children go to a school, and that school has a School Breakfast program and or a School Lunch Program. In the summer, you have the same services available, the same opportunities, same eligibility for children, but the sites are there are more sites and sometimes when people dont know, if they cant be served by a particular school, they may have to go to another place in their community. So this is a major issue because children we know that all the science tells us that if we want children to learn more now and earn more later, thats what we all hope. Not just the right thing to do, but if you have enough to eat, you can probably learn better, obviously, and if you can learn more, youre going to earn more literally in your lifetime. So it isnt just a rhyme. It actually has a scientific foundation. We want to make sure that in addition to having the best possible Educational Programs for children to learn, we want to also create the best circumstances for them to learn. And i dont know about people here, but in the course of my day, if i dont eat breakfast and then it gets to noontime or 1 00 and i havent had something to eat, its pretty hard for me to be as to be as functional and as effective as i want to be. I can only imagine what its like for a child who doesnt have enough to eat, not just on one particular day of the week but maybe more than one day or maybe a couple of days in a row. I dont know how they can function, let alone learning and studying, taking tests and achieving and being successful over time. So they need the same kind of help in the summer that they have during the year. So if we are making it possible, if our government and communities around the country is making it possible for a child to have a School Breakfast and or a school lunch, why wouldnt we make sure that they have meals during the summer as well . Especially when there is a program in place that they are eligible for, so we have got to call attention to it. So, mr. President , i know that this is a challenge in all of our states, and we want to make sure that were highlighting this, getting information out so that our children can have opportunities not only to have enough to eat but to eat meals that are nutritious. I was just at a site in philadelphia yesterday. The jazu school, which is in north philadelphia. I taught there as a volunteer 31 years ago. I actually not only handed out the lunches to the children at that site, but i was able to see what was in it, and they had they were good they were good meals, but they were also very nutritious, something that can help a child grow and learn and move into the future together. So we are grateful that we have these programs, but if we dont tell people enough about them, were going to continue to have that terrible dropoff from the number of children served during the year. Again, as i said, 21 million children dropping off to only three million children served in the summer. There is no reason why we should we should allow that to happen, there is no reason why we should say that is anything other than unacceptable. So, madam president , im grateful to have this opportunity and grateful for the support that this program has across the country, but we need to get the word out. We need to get these 800 numbers out as much as we can. And i would yield the floor. I note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley thank you. I ask that the calling of the quorum be suspended. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley and i ask permission to speak in morning business for ten or 12 minutes. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley earlier this year, i learned about a case of Research Misconduct that happened at Iowa State University. A team of scientists was working on a vaccine to fight h. I. V. One of the researchers, dr. Hahn, committed fraud to make it appear as though the vaccine for h. I. V. Was working. He purposely spiked testing samples so it would look like the vaccine actually fought h. I. V. Dr. Hans fraud helped his team get 15 million in federal grant money from the n. I. H. , or around here we refer to that as the National Institutes of health. N. I. H. Is part of the department of the health and Human Services. Or we refer to that as h. H. S. H. H. S. Gives out billions of dollars in Research Grants every year. Today n. I. H. Gave out or in 2013, n. I. H. Gave out over 20 billion in Research Grants. Now, obviously, thats a huge amount of money by any standard. The government has a responsibility to make sure that this money is wellspent. Unfortunately, it looks like the government is relying on grant recipients to do the oversight instead of the government seeing that that money is wellspent. In this case, officials at Iowa State University were unaware of the fraud until another team of scientists couldnt duplicate the results. Iowa State University took the problem very seriously, and i compliment them for that, and they also notified health and Human Services. But if it werent for Iowa State Universitys actions, i doubt the government ever would have found out about this tremendous amount of fraud. The office of Research Integrity at health and Human Services was created for the specific purpose to prevent and investigate Research Misconduct. The office of Research Integrity investigated the allegations of misconduct at Iowa State University and, in fact, confirmed that dr. Hans knowingly committed fraud. Dr. Hahn even admitted to the fraud. The office of Research Integrity imposed only a threeyear ban on dr. Hahn receiving any more federal grant money. Thats basically a slap on the wrist. It makes absolutely no sense that someone who admitted to that level of fraud could be eligible for another federal grant in just three years. I asked the office of research ands integrity i asked the office of Research Integrity why the penalty for dr. Hahn was so light and if it would try to recover any of the 19 million in Research Grants. Now, the taxpayers subsidized what was supposed to be promising h. I. V. Research, but it was based on dr. Hahns fraud. His phony results were the basis for those grant applications. Office of Research Integrity says that it considers a threeyear ban a very strict penalty. To iowans that doesnt sound like a very commonsense penalty. Now, in fact, office of Research Integrity says that three years is the maximum penalty that it can give, unless there are aggravating circumstances. That threeyear limit is set by the White House Office of management and budget. So the office of Research Integrity claims that somehow its hands are tied. But in this case, office of Research Integrity did not even try to demonstrate aggravating circumstances to enforce a longer debarment, longer than three years, against dr. Hahn. The office of Research Integrity admitted that there is nothing to keep dr. Hahn from conducting research again and have that Research Funded by the american taxpayers after those three years. Office of Research Integrity claims it does not have the authority to recover funds in case of research conduct. Now think about that a minute. This office of Research Integrity, saddled with the responsibility to make sure money is wisely used and research is honest, says that it does not have the authority to recover funds in case of fraud. The office of Research Integrity now get that. Were talking about Research Integrity. It says it is the responsibility of the agency that issued the Research Grant to recover money obtained by fraud. So i asked the National Institutes of health about its involvement in this case. The National Institutes of health first said that only 500,000 of the 19 million in Research Grants would be recovered. The National Institutes of health also claimed it was not responsible for recovering the fraudulent grant money. According to the National Institutes of health, oversight is the responsibility of the Educational Institution receiving the money. N. I. H. Said quote Iowa State University, as grantee, is legally responsible and accountable for the use of funds provided for the performance of a grantsupported project or activity. End of quote. It looks like each office i asked just simply passed the buck along to somebody else. But a pass the buck attitude doesnt work when it comes to government oversight. I also asked health and Human Services about the case. Health and Human Services said that quote granting recipients have the primary obligation to conduct investigations of their own researchers. End of quote. Universities need to be responsible and accountable with federal Research Grants. By taking action when it learned of the fraud, Iowa State University did that, in this case, but that does not give the government an excuse not to do oversight. And if the government is relying on universities to report fraud instead of doing the oversight, there are probably other cases of fraud that are never caught. If you write a taxpayerfunded check, you should be responsible for making sure the money is being wellspent. The Funding Agency and health and Human Services as a whole should do more to protect taxpayers dollars, especially when many are calling for even more taxpayer funding for the National Institutes of health. The office of Research Integrity has a Clear Mission to prevent and investigate cases of Research Misconduct. But i am concerned not only about this case but about allegations that the office of Research Integrity made by its former director, dr. David wright. Dr. Wright resigned only days after i started my investigation. In his resignation letter, dr. Wright said that bureaucratic red tape was keeping him dr. Wright from doing his job. He said up to 65 of his time was spent quote navigat navigating the remarkably dysfunctional h. H. S. Bureaucracy to secure resources and get permission for the office of Research Integrity to serve the research community. End of quote. Now, we ought to take his allegations very seriously. And h. H. S. Should do as well. When researchers abuse the public trust, the office of Research Integrity should use all the powers at its disposal to resolve that problem. I recently learned that dr. Hahn has been indicted for four felony counts of making false statements. Regardless of the outcome of this indictment, it is encouraging to see an effort to increase accountability for spending of taxpayers money. Also earlier this week, a National Institutes of health National Institutes of Health Confirmed for the Des Moines Register that it would stop the final grant payment. That, of course, will save taxpayers 1. 4 million. So its good news that the National Institutes of health is taking action to recover taxpayers money in this fraud case, but this is only one case, and the National Institutes of healths actions came after months of public attention and my investigating. I worry that more cases may go unnoticed and even unaddressed if there isnt a public outcry. We cant afford that. We cant afford to have cases like this go unnoticed and unaddressed. Federal oversight of Research Funds is far too weak. The government is doing far too little to recover money lost to fraud. We cant afford a fund it and forget it attitude. Fraudsters need to be held accountable, and people handing out taxpayers money need to know that if they are careless with that money, uncle sam will come knocking at the door for a refund. Although secretary sebelius recently left health and Human Services, i expect the new secretary Sylvia Mathews burwell to take this issue very seriously. Ultimately, the secretary of h. H. S. Has the responsibility to ensure the health Research Grants are not abused. She needs to ensure that agencies within h. H. S. Have all the tools that they need to recover money lost to fraud and to prevent it from happening, even in the first place. Secretary burwell should investigate dr. Wrights allegations about the office of Research Integrity and fix the problems that dr. Wright outlined before his resignation. Oversight is an extremely important part of the governments role. Unfortunately, it is often ignored and taxpayers dollars are abused. When researchers abuse the public trust, health and Human Services and all of its components should use all the powers that they have to investigate, resolve the problem, and get the money back. They owe it to the american taxpayers. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call quorum call quorum call quorum call a senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from indiana. A senator i ask that we dispense with the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Donnelly i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to calendar numbers 906, 907, 904, that there be debate equally divided in the usual form for debate on the nomination, the that upon the use of time the senate yield be all time and all roll call votes be ten minutes in length. Further if any nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be in order to the nomination, that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the
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