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MAJOR VICTORY FOR SPENDING CONTROL!

Coburn Transparency Bill Passes the House
Andrew Roth {ClubFroGrowth]

Wow! The Coburn transparency bill has passed the House. This was expected, of course, but what I'm surprised and relieved about is that this is finally the culmination of a long, strange trip. With Senator Tom Coburn's help, the blogosphere literally picked up this bill and carried it through the Senate and the House and is now delivering it to the White House for President Bush's signature.

Let me say one other thing about this bill. When senators are first elected, they are immediately indoctrinated into the upper chamber's "go along to get along" way of doing business. Tom Coburn did NOT do that. He hit the ground running when he was elected in 2004 and has been a breath of fresh air for taxpayers. Instead of playing the back-scratching game of old school politics, he challenged the old bulls in the Senate by going after massive pork projects like the "Bridge to Nowhere".

Most people would have concluded that after that, Coburn would be relegated to the corner, perceived as too rebellious to be included in big legislative decisions. Attacking the Bridge to Nowhere would cost him. He'd be punished for his mutinous behavior. And in the end, maybe he was, but it didn't bother him one bit. He kept slogging forward, he kept fighting for taxpayers. And now he has helped steer a major piece of legislation to victory that will effectively pry open the doors to the Big Sausage Factory. More importantly, he's invited the entire country to walk through those doors to conduct a thorough health inspection.

We may very well look back on this day and realize that this was the moment that Old Bull Politics in the mold of Ted Stevens and Robert Byrd died and a new era was born in which citizens demand and require complete transparency in government. This bill was the catalyst to making that happen.

Thanks for this post. What wonderful news! Your comments concerning Coburn are very true. I also hope people realize that he is not treated very nice by his fellow collegues. He is relegated to the corner, so to speak. But it does not bother him one bit that he is not popular with other Senators, he is not there to serve him. I get on my knees and thank God for Senator Coburn, I wish we had 100 more like him.

Keep stirring things up, Mr. Coburn, keep their feet to the fire!