Right Now
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) released the following statement after the Senate defeated two critical amendments that would have protected victims of sex crimes.
“When the United States Senate protects wasteful and duplicative spending ahead of victims of sex crimes, the American people have to ask serious questions about the competence of their elected leaders. Across America, victims of rape are being abused not just by their attackers but by a system that was designed to help them recover and find justice,” Dr. Coburn said.
Coburn amendment #15, which was defeated by a vote of 46 to 53, would have more quickly resolved rape cases by reducing unnecessary duplication and overlap within the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The amendment would have provided at least $600 million to support solving sexual crimes from the savings reached by consolidating and streamlining federal programs.
Coburn amendment #16, which was defeated by a vote of 43 to 57, would have better protected rape victims from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) by allowing for the testing of indicted assailants and providing treatment to survivors who are at risk or infected. The Coburn amendment would have increased penalties to states that refused to implement such laws. The amendment was necessary because states were choosing to accept the penalty enacted in the previous version of the Violence Against Women Act rather than implementing the law.
This amendment would have increased the protection of rape victims by 1) increasing the penalty from 5% to 20% to ensure more grantees provide offender testing; 2) expand the testing to all sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) for which a diagnostic test exists; and 3) require the Justice Department to report annually on grantee compliance with such testing.
Dr. Coburn also voted against the Leahy amendment that sought to increase funding for victims of trafficking without adequately addressing the widespread waste, mismanagement and duplication that already exists in the federal government’s anti-trafficking programs.
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9/13/12 | Dr. Coburn's Amendments to the Veterans Job Corps Act of 2012 |
9/13/12 | Social Security Disability Programs: Improving the Quality of Benefit Award Decisions |
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6/19/12 | Farm Bill Amendments Update |
6/12/12 | Dr. Coburn's Amendments to the S. 3240, Farm Bill |
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7/27/11 | 9,000,000,000,000 Ways to Balance the Budget |
7/22/11 | Dr. Coburn on C-SPAN's Washington Journal This Morning |
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4/13/11 | New Report Reveals Overbilling of Treasury Department by Law Firms, Misuse of TARP Funds |
4/4/11 | Dr. Coburn's amendments to cut spending by $20 billion |
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11/17/10 | Today, Dr. Coburn filed two amendments to the Food Safety bill |
11/10/10 | Earmark Myths and Realities |
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10/26/10 | What Others Are Saying About "Grim Diagnosis" |
10/7/10 | Dr. Coburn Not Holding Aid to Haiti |
10/4/10 | HHS ADMINISTRATIVE FAILURE |
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2/22/10 | Guns in Parks Fact Sheet |
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11/18/09 | Coburn's efforts to improve the Caregiver and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act |
11/5/09 | Facts about the Veterans Caregiver Bill |
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8/6/09 | Clunkers for Charity |
8/4/09 | Coburn Amendments to the Agriculture Appropriations Bill |
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6/16/09 | Dr. Coburn Releases Stimulus Oversight Report |
6/2/09 | Coburn Amendments to the Family Smoking and Prevention Act |
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5/12/09 | Coburn Gun Amendments 1067 and 1068 |
5/5/09 | Coburn Offers Amendment to Dispose of Unneeded Federal Buildings |
5/1/09 | OMB Responds to Coburn's Letter on Transparency |
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4/22/09 | Coburn Amendments to The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act |
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1/29/09 | Senate Rejects Opportunity to Provide Health Care to Needy Children at No Additional Cost |
1/7/09 | Senate Leaders to Kick Off New Congress with an Earmark-Laden Omnibus Lands Bill |
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10/16/08 | Highlights of Senator Reid's Omnibus Lands Grab and Energy Restrictions Act Scheduled for Debate Next Month |
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9/27/08 | Coburn Comments on the Fiscal Year 2009 Continuing Resolution |
9/26/08 | Reid Neglects Economy to Pursue Pet Projects |
9/17/08 | Reid's Monkey Business Continues |
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8/21/08 | Coburn Applauds HHS Action on Physician Conscience Rights |
8/1/08 | Democrats Hold Civil Rights and Child Pornography Legislation as a Political Hostage |
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6/20/08 | AMERICAN OIL REMAINS UNTOUCHED |
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3/14/08 | Dr. Coburn's Efforts Fix GINA |
3/11/08 | Coburn's Speech on the 2009 Budget |
3/3/08 | Dr. Coburn Amendment to Ensure Scientists Conduct Research, Not Politicians |
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2/14/08 | Dr. Coburn's amendments to fix the broken Indian Health Care system |
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1/29/08 | Dr. Coburn's Federal Land Bill Amendments |
1/24/08 | Coburn's official visit to Taiwan |
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8/28/07 | Congress celebrates the Year of the Golden Pig |
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2/14/07 | Debating the continuing resolution |
2/7/07 | What's next for the War in Iraq? |
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1/30/07 | Do we need to increase the federal mininum wage? |
1/12/07 | Real reform for the Senate ethics bill |
1/4/07 | The Coburn Principles |
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12/14/06 | 109th Congress Convenes |
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11/16/06 | Coburn amendments to the Agriculture Appropriations bill |
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9/26/06 | Ryan White CARE Act Reauthorization |
9/26/06 | President Bush Signs Coburn/Obama Transparency Act |
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8/23/06 | Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act |
8/2/06 | Coburn amendments to the Department of Defense Appropriations bill |
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5/2/06 | Stop the Senate from approving non-emergency projects in the emergency supplemental |
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12/14/05 | Dr. Coburn letter to HHS on Ryan White CARE Act formulas and ADAP funding |