mr. coburn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: per the senate rules i've submit add letter outlining my reasons for objecting to this besides it not being paid for. and i object. mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i commend the senator from maryland who just as he did when he was in the state legislature and has done every single day since he's been in the united states senate, he has been supportive of law enforcement and police officers, and i commend him for it. i'm sorry there was an objection. i spoke earlier to the senator from maryland -- i think i said delaware before. i meant maryland of course. my dear friend, senator ben cardin. i told him earlier that that i a hearing on the bulletproof vest program. the distinguished senator from delaware was there as well as officers from delaware. during that hearing, we heard from officer zallos of the police department. this is some of the most powerful testimony i've heard in my years, almost 40 years in tha

mr. coburn: will the senator yield for a moment? mr. leahy: i, i -- mr. coburn: just for a question. i never voted for any money for that spending p. p. mr. leahy: if the senator will go back on what i said, it did not refer to him. i worry about those, however, who voted for that war and did not vote to stop that war, voted for the very first time that this country has ever gone to war in its history without a tax to pay for it. we voted for it on a credit card, an unnecessary war, a war that hurt the interests of the united states and has cost us -- eventually will cost us $2 trillion. nobody -- nobody talks about paying for that. but to protect the police officers who are on the street every day protecting us, oh, we can't do that. we can't do that. even though we have before. now, i know there have been -- i could name the six police officers who were killed in oklahoma. i'm not going to. i'm trying not to make this personal. but, madam president, you understand law enforcement. you supported this. everybody on this side of the aisle supports this, to protect our police officers.

mr. coburn: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coburn: i wanted to spend a moment or two talking about the water resources development act conference report and i would say to my colleagues, both in this chamber and in the house, some improvement in the wrda reauthorization has happened. but it's not near enough. over the past seven to -- from 1986-2010, the average new authorizations were over $3 billion a year and the average amount of money was $1.8 billion a year. so we've been going backwards all that time. in this report, they did deauthorrize less than 10% of the $80 billion in backlogged projects. their attempt to take some of the political nature out of it is a good attempt but it's not nearly complete and will be gamed just like we've seen in the past. what really hasn't happened in the wrda bill, and partly because they don't have the authority to do it, is to change the corps of engineers. there's never been a project the corps of engineers doesn't want to build, and there'

mr. coburn said and ask whether it is the case. >> well, it is really -- it's emblematic of the entire debate been, you know it was going to cause death panels. it is socialism. it is going to destroy the private health industry. all of these apocalyptic predictions. none of them have come true. look, the law is, it is a mix of good and bad. it certainly has the its flaws. but, you know all of the available signs at this point. it is actually working reasonably well. we can say, i think with absolute confidence that, predictions like those were always absurd. and -- you know this just proves it. >> yeah. and you know, the president went down and did all this jokes at the correspondents' dinner, health care.gov. good to laugh at your self. if i can overanalyze humor. i thought of it reflect aid confidence or swagger. we are past that. you weren't joking about health care.gov. that goes to something else. which is whether this new, nominee here, sylvia burwell have republican support but seen as a competent overseer, what can you tell us about her? >> she is a competent overseer. she does have

side that has been championed by senator coburn and they have certainly made process but when mr. mccord who has confirmation near --. >> the gentleman's time has expired. is there debate? mr. connolly. >> i'm going to respectfully oppose the amendment. the department of defense has made progress on this very important issue. it is making progress. we just passed the en bloc amendment an advisory panel that would help this committee with his oversight in this very important issue throughout the entire period. it is a much better approach to making sure this happens in this feel-good thing that you think you have to be somebody it. moving faster treasuries that policy. the only place to get the fast audited is to have the department do it. you move it to treasury and separate the functions oversight

mr. mccourt will be in your shoes. we are going to stay on this, and dr. coburn is going to be here until later this year.re going to make sure every day he is here and i am here, this committee is around, that we will stay on top of this. 90%, that is better than 50% or 60%. >> better than zero percent. we want to100%, and get as close to 100% as we can. we want to be helpful and not a problem in getting to that goal. senator tester? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the ranking member and the witnesses for being here today. on the banking committee we talk about banks that are too big to fail. thisnot know how we got to point, but maybe the dod has gotten too big to audit. i certainly hope not, because i do not think anybody disagrees that a full audit of the pentagon's books is critical for moving forward. it would not only help identify ways to increase operational efficiencies. it would increase transparency. would it bring in more appropriate level of oversight to the department of defense. in a budget environment in which we continue to see requests for program illuminations, base closure