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Love him or loathe him, nobody disagrees that Tom Coburn has guts. Known nationally as “Dr. No,” Sen. Coburn is profiled in today’s WAPO. The bottom line: Coburn knows how to stand on principle, something so many Republicans seem to have forgotten. And saving the taxpayers $10 billion isn’t half bad either!
Related:
Okie Funk: Does Dr. No Even Believe In Voting?
Those darn Democrats!!!
By Michael Sandler
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) was taken to the hospital Friday.
“Dr. Coburn is having tests for a common arrhythmia and has not been admitted to the hospital,” said John Hart, the senator’s spokesman. Hart said Coburn expects to return to the Senate for Saturday’s 11 a.m. vote on housing legislation.
The 60-year-old Coburn, originally from Casper, Wyo., is an obstetrician and two-time cancer survivor known in the Senate for his penchant for putting “holds” on legislation. Read more…
Related:
Human Events: Don’t Free the Coburn 35
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell joins Senator Tom Coburn in taking a bite out of reality in true conservative style. Let’s “do the drill”…
Ed Morrissey confirms Oklahoma’s own Senator Tom Coburn is a true conservative…
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/07/23/conference-call-with-sens-tom-coburn-jim-demint/trackback/
Senate Democrats are setting up a showdown with a thorn in their side: Oklahoma conservative Tom Coburn .
Majority Leader Harry Reid and other top Democrats have decided to bundle an undetermined number of bills that have at least one thing in common: Coburn has blocked them by exercising a hold.
Packaging the mostly unrelated measures would give Democrats a chance to illustrate one of their election themes: The majority must resort to extreme measures to move bills that would be passed easily if Republican obstructionists would allow votes.
“Bills that are non-controversial, that move the country forward, albeit in a small way, are being blocked, and we’re going to have to do something about that,” said Charles E. Schumer of New York, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
The Democratic strategy, likely to play out during July, will test party loyalties. Republicans will have to decide whether to advance bills they support or stand behind Coburn as he demands the ability to debate and amend bills on the floor.
Coburn said Tuesday he is prepared to dig in his heels and make it tough for Democrats to pass their package unless he is permitted to offer amendments.
“The fact is, if they come to the floor it’s going to take a while to move it if we don’t get any amendments,” Coburn said. “There might be a filibuster or two in real terms.” Read more…
Sen’s. Inhofe & Coburn, Rep. Mary Fallin, and Mayor Mick Cornett sign letter opposing casino. Where’s the Governor?
With a critical deadline approaching, Oklahoma City residents in the vicinity of a proposed casino are rallying their neighbors to voice their opposition. Friday is the last business day that the Bureau of Indian Affairs will take public input regarding the controversial casino proposed by the Shawnee Tribe to be located just 1.7 miles away from Remington Park. The comment period officially ends Sunday, June 8th, so local leaders are urging those who wish to participate in the public comment to get their messages to the BIA by Friday.
State Rep. Mike Shelton, whose district contains Remington Park, will help lead a community meeting Tuesday night to raise awareness of the casino’s enormous negative influence to the area and to remind residents that their opinion won’t matter after Friday when the BIA’s 30 day public comment period ends. While local, state and federal officials are publicly opposing the casino, local leaders like Shelton, say input from citizens in the immediate area is crucial. (Click here to view a letter signed by Sen’s. Inhofe & Coburn, Rep. Mary Fallin, and Mayor Mick Cornett)
“The BIA must consider the will of the people, and we must clearly communicate that will, but we have only until Friday for that message to count. There will be so many people, businesses, schools injured by this casino that is incomprehensible that the BIA would for even one moment consider allowing this proposal. They have a job to do, but so do the people who live and work here. That is why we must send a perceptible and unambiguous message to the BIA, the Department of the Interior and even the President: do no harm to northeast Oklahoma City.”
The public meeting will be held at Millwood Arts Academy at 6700 Martin Luther King. Millwood is one of the school districts whose tax base would be devastated if the BIA allows the casino and the subsequent demise of Remington Park. The meeting begins at 6:30 PM.
Sen. Coburn is interviewed by CBS News on the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s wasteful spending. He is particularly critical of the conferences USDA officials have been attending lately. He lists for example, officials attending Crayfish conferences in Australia, and trips to Hawaii to study the U.S. Congress.
“Somewhere along the way, something changed. Nobody knows for sure who did what.”- Sen. Tom Coburn
From ABC News:
Someone – before Congress mandated that earmarks enacted into law be made public, so we’re not sure who – someone changed language in the conference report to the 2006 transportation bill that redirected $10 million that had been designated to widen parts of I-75 to instead create the off-ramp.
Problem is the residents of Lee County in Naples, Florida didn’t want the off-ramp. The local government didn’t want the off-ramp and the local Congressman, Republican Connie Mack, says he didn’t request the off-ramp.
It was requested by a local business man – conveniently a political patron of Rep. Don Young, the powerful Alaska Republican that tried so hard to bring you the “Bridge to Nowhere” boondoggle that same year, and the lawmaker who wrote the bill.
Young has not directly admitted requesting the earmark, and despite Mack maintaining he didn’t request it either, offering he even worked to have the earmark reversed, there exists a letter from 2006 indicating Mack supported an off-ramp in that location.
Lawmakers put 6,300 earmarks worth $24 billion into what was ultimately signed by President George W. Bush. But only Coconut Road is still causing problems on Capitol Hill.
Republican anti-earmark crusader Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla, wants to appoint a bipartisan, bicameral panel with subpoena power to investigate the matter and he’s holding up action on the Senate floor demanding a vote on the proposal.
Senators have spent all week considering a “technical corrections” to the 2005 transportation bill. “Technical corrections” are supposed to dot i’s and cross t’s overlooked when the bill was originally passed, but Coburn says there should be a full accounting of the taxpayer money that was overlooked too.
WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) today expressed disappointment that the Senate rejected four amendments to a public lands bill, S. 2739 the “Consolidated Natural Resources Act,” that would have protected private property rights and forced Congress to pay for new spending in the bill with spending cuts elsewhere. U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) co-sponsored each amendment:
Across America, families are tightening their belts. Yet, despite a sluggish economy, Congress continues to believe it’s entitled to spend as much as it desires without making choices about spending. The Senate’s refusal to pay for any the new costs of this without any belt-tightening of its own is one reason why Congress’ approval ratings are at an all-time low.
“Our nation was built on a tradition of service and sacrifice in which one generation sacrifices for the next. Yet, Congress has become a parochial body that puts the short-term desires of politicians and special interests ahead of the national interest. For instance, the National Park Service (NPS) faces a $9 billion maintenance backlog yet Congress just voted to spend $380 million on new projects that will help politicians look good in the next election. I appreciate my colleagues who recognize that we are on unsustainable fiscal course and are willing to challenge the status quo in Washington.
With our nation nearly $10 trillion in debt and our troops serving in harm’s way overseas, Congress today voted to borrow more money to pay for these new priorities in S. 2739:
The Senate considered the following Coburn/McCain amendments. Complete background on the amendments is here.
Amendment 4522 requiring an annual report detailing the amount of property the federal government owns and the cost of government land ownership to taxpayers was defeated by a vote of 30 to 63.
Amendment 4521 requiring citizens’ approval and periodic renewal by referendum of any taking of property by the Departments of Interior, Energy or Agriculture was defeated by a vote of 19 to 76.
Amendment 4520 requiring that citizens within a National Heritage Area are informed of the designation, and that government officials must receive permission to enter private property, was defeated by a margin of 27 to 67.
Amendment 4519 that would have set aside one percent of any spending appropriated to carry out the new authorizations within the bill to be used to pay for the disposal of excess, unused and unneeded Federal property to offset some of the costs of the bill was defeated by a vote of 22 to 73.
By Kathleen Hunter, CQ Staff