you're very welcome. 
I am very sad to see that some of my favorite senators from other states aren't on the list as well. *sigh*
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.
He said he would resign if the Senate voted to kill his state's bridge funding."
And the downside is?
Probably the best vote I ever cast for a politician in my life was for Senator Coburn last November. I'm proud to call him my Senator.
BTW, folks, for you non-Okies who aren't aware of it, the "good old boy" wing of the Oklahoma Republican Party pulled out all the stops to try and keep Coburn from getting the GOP nomination last year--but he won the nomination in a walk. They didn't want him because they were aware that he's not a lockstep pork barrel politician, but is serious about cutting the size of our bloated government, even if it meant Oklahoma lost some pork projects. We need 99 more of him in the United States Senate.
Well, one of them anyway.
You are welcome....!!
I believe that most Okie's that voted for Dr. Tom....knew what they wre getting. AND...you might be surprised at how the good ol' boy network on both sides of the aisle didn't want him in Washington again.
John McLame....could only hope to be the maverick that Tom Coburn actually is. He walks the talk. RINO's like McLame just need to walk!!
No excuse I suppose....but it's something. (G)
He sure is the best Senator to hit D.C. in a long time!
Oklahoma grassroots got out the vote -- don't believe there has been a better organized grassroots then we had here in OK in the Coburn race. Still have my Sooners for Coburn t-shirt -- what a great addition to the Senate.
Good job by Coburn. There's only a few Congressmen/Senators who are really worth their salts.
That's another reason I am supporting Senator George Allen -- he supported Dr. Tom Coburn.
Seems I need to educate myself....
Thanks-
I talked to someone in his OKC office that I know and told him how much I appreciated Dr. Tom standing up for exactly what we elected him to do in D.C. Also told him I was glad to see Senator Allen standing with Dr. Tom.
That's another reason I am supporting Ernest Istook for OK Governor because he is his own man and not afraid to make waves when it is the right thing to do. Cong Istook was behind Dr. Tom from the beginning.
Now it is time for the Oklahoma grassroots to roll up their sleeves and get busy again!
you're very welcome.
I am very sad to see that some of my favorite senators from other states aren't on the list as well. *sigh*
bttt
FRegards,
Around here they call him Governor Sleeps a Lot! Doofus is right.
Should be said again, and again..............
FRegards,
Yes the grass roots scored a victory. I love Oklahoma people. Also Dr. Coburn held his own in the debates as well.
It was my pleasure I can assure you!
Coburn was elected in part because of the support of Club for Growth. The Club will be getting my financial support rather than the RNC.
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