Obama Signs Improper Payments Legislation

President Barack Obama today signed into law the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act, proving that he is determined to not only talk the talk, but to walk the walk when it comes to reigning in excessive government spending.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), will force the federal government to look for ways to eliminate overpayments involving benefit checks, as well as Medicare and Medicaid outlays. According to the White House, it will help achieve the President’s new goal of lowering wasteful, improper payments by $50 billion between now and 2012.

“This goal is fully achieveable,” said the President.

Today’s event could demonstrate to Americans that less than 24 hours after Obama signed a bill aimed at holding Wall Street more accountable, he is committed to doing the same within his own government. In fiscal year 2009, the federal government misspent almost $110 billion. In addition to wasting tons of money on entitlement programs, the government sent millions of dollars worth of checks to dead people, and frequently overpaid contractors.

With the nation’s debt level slowly approaching $14 trillion, the President pledged earlier this year to take serious steps to crack down. Obama issued executive orders and memos establishing “do not pay” lists for fraudulent contractors, forcing departments to spend less on construction costs and reforming the federal hiring process. Signing Carper-Murphy marks yet another effort by the administration to combat waste and abuse.

“I think we’re headed in the right direction,” said Obama.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell effects military cohesiveness

"I may be straight, but not narrow" said Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) at a heated review of the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy before the House Armed Services Committee, Military Personnel Subcommittee. This was the first time in 15 years that the policy had been revisited since its creation in 1993.

Retired Marine Corps. Staff Sgt. and first wounded soldier during the Iraq War Eric Alva, stated that trust was the most important bond he shared with his fellow soldiers, and that when he admitted to them that he was gay, trust and cohesion in the group only strengthened.

Joan Darrah, a retired Navy Captain, echoed Alva's sentiments, saying that she was constantly forced to live a double life while serving. After leaving a room in the Pentagon that was destoryed only minutes later on the morning of 9/11, Darrah realized that her partner of 11 years would have been the last to know, had she been killed. Due to the policy, she said that she was very secretive about her life as a lesbian, not even listing her partner as an emergency contact. In addition, Darrah said that the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy actually hurts troop cohesion by mandating the immediate removal of soldiers who are found to be gay.

Brian Jones, a former Army Special Operations and current business owner and Chief Financial Officer defended Don't Ask Don't Tell by saying that certain military situations require a closeness that could be uncomfortable for heterosexual soldiers, pointing to communal showers and even the need to huddle together for warmth, which he stated can result in the sexual arousal of gay soldiers.

Elaine Donnelly, President of the Center for Military Readiness said that by removing the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, heterosexual soldiers would be pushed into a situation she called "forced cohabitation". She also stated that by allowing openly gay soliders to fight alongside straight soldiers, the government would be putting an unfair burden on Americans with religious convictions.

Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), a member of congress who has served in the US military, exressed sharp criticism of Donnelly for remarks that he said implied that the US Army was not professional enough to to work alongside gay soldiers.