Posted on 10/21/2005 6:58:12 AM PDT by Osage Orange
Coburn's Proposals Get KO'd In Senate Spat
By Chris Casteel
The Oklahoman
WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn's pork-busting got personal Thursday, prompting the equivalent of a schoolyard brawl in the staid Senate. Though Coburn wound up being pummeled like a new kid who doesn't know the playground rules, he got in a few licks before losing.
Coburn, the freshman Republican from Muskogee, started the fight when he tried to knock out some "special projects" from a spending bill, including $500,000 for a sculpture garden at a Seattle art museum and another $950,000 for a parking lot at an art museum in Nebraska.
The projects were in the portion of the spending bill that funds the Housing and Urban Development Department.
"What's more important -- feeding people and housing people or building a sculpture park?" Coburn said, noting that 15,590 homeless people are in the state of Washington.
Senators ultimately decided to preserve the funding for the sculpture park.
Though many lawmakers will criticize so-called pork barrel projects and curse their effect on the national debt, they don't typically offer amendments aimed at stripping a colleague's home-state projects from a bill and force them to justify the spending.
And most senators -- including Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe -- didn't appreciate Coburn's efforts to do that Thursday.
Coburn got the strongest rebuke from U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., who managed the spending bill on the Senate floor.
Bond, seeming to mock the Senate convention of complimenting colleagues during debate, talked about Coburn's habit of practicing medicine during Senate breaks and said he envied Coburn's abilities.
Then he delivered the blow.
"You know what I do when I have time off?" Bond said. "I travel around the state."
He said he goes to communities to find out whether they need a county health center or improved water and sewer facilities.
"They know I'm not a physician," Bond said. "But they know I'm up here to serve and represent them."
Bond asked about funding in the bill for an Indian museum in Ponca City.
Coburn said he didn't know anything about it and that Inhofe must have requested it. He said he would offer an amendment to strip funding for that project.
Ryan Thompson, a spokesman for Inhofe, said the bill included $200,000 for Ponca City to help build a museum and statue commemorating Ponca Chief Standing Bear. The request came from Inhofe.
Responding to Bond, Coburn said he was offended at the suggestion he had sacrificed meetings with his constituents to practice medicine.
"I'm listening to the people of Oklahoma," he said, adding that he had been in almost every county in the state since being elected and was trying to fulfill his campaign promise to reign in federal spending.
"This isn't a water treatment program. This is a sculpture park," Coburn said.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., then calmly defended the sculpture park and said senators who voted to strip it out might have their own projects scrutinized.
Bond made a motion to postpone Coburn's proposals to kill projects in Washington, Nebraska and Rhode Island, and the Senate rebuked Coburn with a vote of 86-13.
Inhofe, who voted against Coburn's proposal, said later he respected what Coburn was trying to do, "but his amendment does not accomplish what he set out to achieve. Trying to pass an amendment to eliminate projects that senators from these respective states thought in the best interest of their constituents would not have saved one nickel."
After a brief afternoon break, Coburn started the battle again with an amendment to kill $75 million in funding for two controversial bridge projects in Alaska -- one dubbed "The Bridge to Nowhere." Coburn wanted to redirect the money to an Interstate 10 bridge in New Orleans that Hurricane Katrina damaged.
U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, became enraged, shouting on the Senate floor that one state shouldn't be singled out to lose money that Congress had approved.
He said he would resign if the Senate voted to kill his state's bridge funding.
Inhofe, whose committee wrote the highway bill authorizing the Alaska bridge projects, stood to object to Coburn's amendment, reiterating that lawmakers should be able to judge what's good for their states.
Coburn's amendment went down 15 to 82.
Hey, there's another money saving idea. Just let him resign and play like he's on a "fact finding trip" until the next election. You won't miss him and he won't be able to pork up any more projects. It is sad to see Republicans acting like this. Good for Coburn!
I just called Kit Bond's office and the girl who answered said I needed to worry about my own Senator and not Mr. Bond. I don't vote for him....yada, yada, yada....anyway, Mr. Bond needs to hear from the people of his home state as does Mr. Stevens. How dare Mr. Bond question Mr. Coburn's commitment to our state....Mr. Coburn has a real job and it is not a life-long politician!!!! These so-called Republicans make me almost as sick as Democrats!
Becky
This is the first I've seen of it...
*looking at Osage Orange pointedly*
BTTT!!!!!!!
You mean it would be that easy to get rid of the Prince of Pork? And we missed the chance. Damn.
Of course, Bob Byrd will always be King of Pork.
"U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, became enraged,......He said he would resign if the Senate voted to kill his state's bridge funding."
Awwwwwwww. Like anybody in America gives a tinker's flip if you resign Ted. Who cares if another pork barrel RINO bites the dust?
This is further proof that just because a person has an (R) behind their name doesn't mean they're not just as morally deficient and integrity challenged as those with a (D) behind their name.
I think it's time for a new party to come on the scene in national politics in America; "The Conservative Party". It would take a few years and a few losses to get established but it might be worth it in the long run.
Fiscal responsibility is not only ignored, it has become TABOO.............very sad!!
And when you call Mr. Steven's office to complain about his pork-barrell spending....his office will tell you that if you are REALLY concerned about spending you should call Robert Byrd's office....I swear that is what they told me....shocking isn't it....it is like what a 6 year old says...."They do it too"!!! I expect better from Republicans.
Just called Inhofe's office and she said the Senator voted against Coburn's amendments because it wouldn't actually save money....WHAT????? I told her I didn't understand that. She said it was already Alaska's money and that Coburn's amendment would have taken the money from the elected officials and given it to unelected officials. Sounded like a bunch of double-speak to me and I told her so. Sooooo verrrry disappointed in Inhofe. I hope he does not run again!!!!
I really don't know how much longer I can defend Republicans!
Also, the lady that answered Inhofe's office asked if I was with a group or just a concerned citizen. I told her I read the info. off of FreeRepublic and took it upon myself to call....
GOD BLESS TOM COBURN!!!
I just called Inhofe's office, told them I was shocked that he didn't support Coburn, etc. She gave me the cock and bull about how it wouldn't save any money. Anyway, I couldn't get through the first time I called, so everybody keep up the good work and keep calling.
I also just called Coburn's office to tell them how proud I was that he is my Senator.
Good to see my freshman Richard Burr from NC on this list. He'll be geting a positive email.
Tom Coburn is the single best Senator and he just arrived.
And he wouldn't be there now without the Club For Growth whose members support conservatives and who rallied on his behalf with TV ads, etc.
Defunding the Bridge to Nowhere is a job for Mike Pence who looks better and better all the time to those of us whom you have tipped off to him. If Pence's time is not immediately upon us, it is not far off. Burgeoning deficits will be a gift that keeps on giving to inspire the ideological reconstruction of the GOP.
Now, now, let's not discriminate against the homeless in a HUD spending bill. You know they need park benches to sleep under , and where better than a nice, new sculpture park ?
/sarc
The Republican party is not conservative.
We do need to encourage the ones who do the right thing.
While a temporary setback, the camel's nose is under the tent..
Hooray for Sen. Coburn! Imhofe is just one of the good ol' boys in the gentleman's club in D. C. He needs to be replaced with a real conservative so OK has a matched set.
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