Sen. Tom Coburn Releases V.A. Report, Continues to Keep Congress in Check

Earlier this week, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) released a report
detailing many of the growing list of problems associated with the
V.A.
Politico reports:

“More than 1,000 veterans needlessly died under the VA’s watch,
and the Department in turn paid these veterans’ families $200
million in wrongful death settlements—the median payment per victim
was $150,000,” the report states.

The investigation into ongoing issues at the VA also found that
a doctor was able to perform “unnecessary pelvic and breast exams”
on female patients, that minority employees faced racial
discrimination and that illegal drugs were prevalent in VA
facilities.

The report “shows the problems at the VA are worse than anyone
imagined. The scope of the VA’s incompetence—and Congress’
indifferent oversight—is breathtaking and disturbing,” said Coburn,
an Oklahoma Republican and physician who once worked in the VA
system.

Coburn is one of Congress’ most ardent investigators of
government waste and abuse. The top Republican on the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Coburn launched this
investigation more than a year ago.

Coburn is not new to reporting on fraud and abuse. In 2012,
Reason TV’s Nick Gillespie interviewed Coburn being critical of
Congress and his reform efforts throughout his tenure. Watch “Sen.
Tom Coburn: How Both Parties Bankrupted America,” produced by Jim
Epstein. Original airdate was July, 17, 2012, and the original
writeup is below.

“Both parties have equally participated in abandoning the
limited role of the federal government,” says Sen. Tom Coburn
(R-Oklahoma), whose new book,
The Debt Bomb: A Bold Plan to Stop Washington from Bankrupting Our
Economy, argues that Republicans and Democrats together
have brought the U.S. to the brink of fiscal calamity.

First elected to the house in 1994 as part of the “Republican
Revolution,” Coburn is a staunch fiscal and social conservative,
who’s been outspokenly critical of members of his own party for
compromising their principles out of political expedience. Coburn
has publicly taken former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to task for

lacking leadership and resolve during his battles with the
Clinton White House to cut spending in the mid-90s.

Coburn, who’s known in the senate as “Dr. No” for vetoing almost
all new spending initiatives, says the federal budget is rife with
“waste, fraud, and duplication.” In 2006, Coburn co-sponsored

legislation that created USASpending.gov, which
makes publicly accessible a list of all recipients of government
funds. In 2010, Coburn was instrumental in getting the Government
Accountability Office to undertake
researching and documenting wasteful government programs.

A supporter of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, Coburn
was a co-author of the Partial-Birth
Abortion Act of
2003, and he supported a 1996 law requiring that
“V-chips” be placed in all television sets to allow parents to
block programming deemed unsuitable. In 1997, Coburn criticized NBC
for airing the Holocaust-film “Schindler’s List” on the grounds
that it included “vile language, full-frontal nudity and
irresponsible sexual activity.” NBC characterized Coburn’s views as
“frightening.”

ReasonTV’s Nick Gillespie sat down with Sen. Coburn to discuss
wasteful spending, cutting entitlements, the need for free-market
health care, and whether he’s losing faith in the government’s
ability to enforce values.

Shot by Jim Epstein and Meredith Bragg, and edited by
Epstein.

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