Posted on 07/28/2008 6:30:19 AM PDT by reaganaut1
WASHINGTON — Congress has dealt for decades with catchall bills known as omnibus legislation. Now, for the first time, comes the Tomnibus.
A product of Democratic frustration with the tactics of Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican and physician who has become the Dr. No of the Senate, the Tomnibus is a $10 billion collection of Coburn-blocked measures assembled by the Senate leadership in an effort to break his solitary grip on the legislative process.
Engineered by Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, the bill includes 35 of the most irresistible-sounding measures stuck on the docket, including the Mothers Act and the Protect Our Children Act.
...
[Coburn] said the Senate was shirking its duty by failing to give closer review to the hundreds of bills that slide through by unanimous consent. And he said Congress should not be clearing the way for billions of dollars in potential new spending — even on meritorious projects — without making reductions elsewhere. Fearful of the public debt piling up, he said he wanted the opportunity to at least propose those cuts.
“We ought not be borrowing and expanding the federal government unless we get rid of stuff that is not working,” he said.
As an example, Mr. Coburn points to one measure Democrats included in the catchall legislation: opening a cold-case unit at the Justice Department to investigate unsolved civil rights cases that occurred before 1970. Its sponsors say Mr. Coburn’s opposition is delaying the unit while the ranks of witnesses thin because of the passage of time. Mr. Coburn said he supported the unit but wanted to pay for it by cutting back on what he sees as excessive Justice Department spending on professional conferences.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
He should be McCain’s Vice President.
Colburn for president
God Bless Senator Tom Coburn, one Republican who seems to get it.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Bills with such names should have all taxpayers reaching to protect their wallets.
Republicans are always the obstructionists.
Go Tom!
We need Coburn in the Senate rather than doing nothing as a VP sitting in the wings waiting for the president to drop dead.
I second that!
Coburn for President!
I thought Obama was Dr. No. No drilling, no nuclear, no coal
The Times has ripped off the Republicans once again.
If we have to have a former Senator as POTUS, it'd be much better to have Coburn.
The Dems are full of excuses. The GOP controls neither house of the Congress. The Dems have a commanding majority in both the Senate and the House, plus they have the RINOs on their side, as well as Sanders and Lieberman, yet they don’t do anything, and blame their failure to act on the GOP—in this case just one guy.
The Spectre of this is Mind boggling. Does this make Ried James Bond or better yet Peloisi as ‘Pussy Galore’.
I think I will throw up now.
Way to go, Dr Coburn!
” “The Senate really depends on people getting along with one another and agreeing you are not going to abuse the right to stop the train,” Mr. Durbin said.”
“stop the gravy train” that is!
I still have a Coburn Senate sign in my garage, waiting for 2010 to put it up in my yard again.
Yep, one must be careful with names:
“Mothers Act”
“Protect Our Children Act”
“Adult Entertainment”
“Choice” -— (The Killing Fields
one’s “sexual orientation” = the butt brigade
etc.
etc.
Coburn would make an excellent President, but the necessary political work to prepare for a candidate like him has not been done.
Right now, no more than 20% of US voters would be prepared to even consider a real conservative for the Presidency. This has to be changed at the grass roots before such a thing can be considered.
He will get my vote but I believe that he will retire from the Senate in 2016. After that, who knows, perhaps Governor.
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