Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) documented his annual report on government waste Monday on FNC. Coburn noted many bureaucrats in the federal government lack the common sense to consider trillion dollar budget deficits when issuing contracts:
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: Well, let me give you a hint. How do you like this one? I got this information from you guys, is that we had - the government produces a 46 minute video called "Grill It Safe" featuring drill sergeants showing off their own recipes.
TOM COBURN: Well, I'm sure somebody thought that was a good idea. You know, people don't do stupid things intentionally. They're just not unaware of one, common sense. Number two, the situation we find ourselves in. I mean, we've been running trillion dollars deficits for four years. You would think people who are making the contracts for some of these grant programs at the Defense Department or Homeland Security or Agricultural Department or many of the other departments would use a little bit of common sense on what is appropriate and what's not. But we haven't found that. Each year we put out the waste book and we continue to find things that are just unbelievable, whether it's in the scientific arena or in the Defense Department or in just general government where we do things. I mean, it took last week before they finally said, we're not going to continue to add employees in the federal government. We had to send a letter to say, well, here is what you're advertising for, you know, an advisor in the Department of Agriculture making $168,000 a year, do you think we really need to continue to do that if we're actually hurting? Are there ways to make the pain less? And the answer is absolutely yes.
Full interview: