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The 'Coburn Omnibus' by Brian Darling Coburn Omnibus Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has angered Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) so much that Reid is planning to force through a vote on a so-called “Coburn Omnibus” bill before the August Recess. The “Coburn Omnibus” is a package of about 100 bills. Coburn is blocking passage of them because of the million-dollar price tag and the fact that many of them would use taxpayer funds to buy up private lands and enrich developers. Much like the late conservative hero “Senator No” (Jesse Helms), Coburn seems to be the only conservative willing to...

A proposal facing action by the U.S. Senate would force National Park and National Wildlife Refuge managers to allow more loaded, hidden handguns in national parks and wildlife refuges, endangering the public as well as wildlife. "This is more of the same from the gun pushers - any gun, anywhere, at any time," said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "Why are we putting hikers, campers and families at risk by introducing loaded, hidden handguns into our national parks and refuges? This proposal is a bad idea that the Senate should reject." Senator Tom Coburn...

December 17, 2007, 6:00 a.m. Who’s Afraid of Competition?Defense earmarks undermine our military. By Tom Coburn As this year’s congressional session comes to a close, the American people should pay special attention to not just what was added at the last minute, but what was taken out. While Congress was siphoning billions of dollars from accounts that train and equip our troops to fund billions of dollars of their own pet projects, members were simultaneously, and behind closed doors, gutting an amendment that I offered to the Defense Authorization Bill (which the Senate accepted) that would force competition for...

www.gunowners.org/a101807.htmOct 2007 Senator Coburn Goes On The Offensive -- Asks Veteran Affairs to explain why they continue banning vets from owning guns Gun Owners of America 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102 Springfield, VA 22151 (703)321-8585 Thursday, October 18, 2007 Senator Tom Coburn isn't going to go away quietly. As you know from previous GOA alerts, the Republican Senator from Oklahoma has placed a hold on the noxious legislation that is being pushed by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. Because of his actions, the Veterans Disarmament Act (HR 2640 and S 2084) has been stalled in the Senate for a...

There's no need to ask Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, why his agency created the Defending the American Dream Summit. U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. -- who actually could be president one day -- can tell you. At the NASDAQ stock market last week, Mr. Obama said the "'what's-good-enough-for-me-is-good-enough' mentality has crept into parts of the business world, while working men and women toil longer hours and still struggle to pay for health care, tuition and taxes," according to The Associated Press. "If we are honest, I think we must admit that those who have benefited from the...

TULSA, Okla. - An Oklahoma senator known for targeting what he considers to be inappropriate federal spending is now turning his sights on government mascots. SNIP Coburn's subcommittee staff has sent out a questionnaire to every federal agency asking them to compile information on mascots. "It is not about going after a particular mascot," the Oklahoma Republican said. "It is about the money." Coburn said he is trying to get a handle on exactly how much the federal government spends each year on mascots and the Web sites that support them. "On average, it looks like there's (up to) $4...

June 29, 2007, 1:10 p.m. McCain’s Courage A rare American politician. By Tom Coburn As the American people, elected officials, and commentators reflect on the heated immigration debate that came to a temporary close in the Senate this week many will ask, and have asked, why U.S. Senator John McCain (R., Ariz.) staked out a position that may, in retrospect, be seen as devastating to his presidential ambitions. I hope the American people, at least, step back from the obsessive play-by-play pre-season election analysis and reflect on Senator McCain’s actions for what I believe they were: One of the purest...

With his caucus bitterly divided and the Senate descending into procedural warfare, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) stayed away from the Senate floor as the most sweeping overhaul of immigration laws in 21 years hung in the balance. Facing the biggest challenge of his leadership tenure, McConnell has largely chosen to work behind the scenes and instead allow a bloc of conservatives to spar with Republican supporters of the bill. Conservatives also railed all day on the process used by Senate leaders to bring the bill to the floor. But Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and other Democrats wasted no...

Is Sen. Tom Coburn an extreme social conservative, a libertarian hero, or both?When Tom Coburn entered the Senate chamber on October 20, 2005, he was girded for battle and ready to lose. The Oklahoma Republican had been sworn into office only 10 months earlier. He was about to take on the Alaska Republican Ted Stevens, who had been in the Senate since the Nixon years and ascended to the top of the omnipotent Appropriations Committee. In Washington, there is no drama about how showdowns between junior and senior senators will end.Coburn was going to challenge two earmarks, specific expenditures requested...

Successful adult germ line reprogramming research conducted by PrimeCell(TM) Therapeutics LLC (http://www.primecelltherapeutics.com) was acknowledged by three Members of Congress during the recent Capitol Hill debate over stem cell research. On April 10, Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, M.D., a practicing physician who has used stem cell therapies in his medical practice, alluded to PrimeCell's work when he said, "We now produce almost every cell type that man has from germ cells, research done in this country..." He emphasized the promise of the germ cell, "...which I happen to believe is going to be another great option in terms of multipotent and...

A senator has delayed submitting a resolution to honor pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson on the 100th anniversary of her birth after a colleague signaled he would block it because of her aggressive fight against pesticides. Carson's 1962 book "Silent Spring" revealed the harmful effects of DDT and other pesticides and helped launch the environmental movement. The longtime resident of Silver Spring, Md., died in 1964. She would have turned 100 this Sunday. Sen. Benjamin Cardin (news, bio, voting record)'s resolution had intended to honor Carson for her "legacy of scientific rigor coupled with poetic sensibility." But Susan Sullam, a spokeswoman...

I don’t think it matters,” he said on a warm day in December, sitting in his office on the first floor of the Russell Senate building as the annual session came to a close. “It will be my first time in the minority party, but I’ve been in the minority the whole time I’ve been here.” For Coburn, it’s a minority of one. Since his arrival in Washington, D.C., two years ago, no other senator has paved a more solitary path, butting heads with nearly every member of his own party and most of the opposition. In fact, as the...

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) and fellow reformers on Capitol Hill have so far met with limited success in their efforts to cut government waste, but they have garnered a lot of attention from popular websites and blogs. And that's about to become the basis of their strategy. Mr. Coburn has proposed a bill to create an Internet database that would track hundreds of billions of dollars in federal contracts, grants, and other payments.

WASHINGTON, July 2 — Exasperated by his party's failure to cut government spending, Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, is seeking cyberhelp. Mr. Coburn wants to create a public database, searchable over the Internet, that would list most government contracts and grants — exposing hundreds of billions in annual spending to instant desktop view. Type in "Halliburton," the military contractor, or "Sierra Club," the environmental group, for example, and a search engine would show all the federal money they receive. A search for the terms "Alaska" and "bridges" would expose a certain $315 million span to Gravina Island (population 50)...

THE WASHINGTON TIMES During the past two weeks, Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, used an arcane parliamentary procedure to seize control of the Senate floor and force fellow senators to vote on individual pork projects they had inserted into an emergency spending bill for war and for hurricane relief.Charles Hurt, Capitol Hill bureau chief for The Washington Times, interviewed Mr. Coburn last week: Q: There were a lot of Republican senators who voted to keep the $700 million "railroad to nowhere," but turned around and voted against the overall spending bill on the grounds that it was too bloated with...

"Change doesn't happen in Washington until not change becomes more popular than change," said Sen. Tom Coburn (R.-Okla.) Wednesday at the Leadership Institute's monthly breakfast. The key to getting America on the right track is change, but "long run" change. Coburn said that freedom works only when "leadership has its eye on the long term." Covering topics from healthcare to immigration to earmarks, Coburn appeals to the "common crowd" because he himself doesn't like how D.C. politics works or the way Congress is run. He said today politics is all about getting re-elected and most public officials are selfish. "The...

U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., says he expects six members of the House of Representatives and at least one fellow senator to go to jail on corruption charges related to the scandal involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Coburn declined to name names, but said, "If you've been keeping up with things, you've got a pretty good idea," according to a report in the Tulsa World. Coburn's remarks came during a town hall meeting at the Wagoner Civic Center attended by about 30 people, and were made in relation to his attempts to curb "earmarking" – the practice of inserting appropriations for...

<p>WASHINGTON -- The Senate, which fancies itself the world's most exclusive club, has its Sir John Hawkins. He was the 18th-century musicologist whom Samuel Johnson called ``a very unclubbable man.'' The very unclubbable senator is Oklahoma's Tom Coburn, 57, a freshman Republican whose motto could be: ``Niceness is overrated.''</p>

WASHINGTON -- The Senate, which fancies itself the world's most exclusive club, has its Sir John Hawkins. He was the 18th-century musicologist whom Samuel Johnson called ``a very unclubbable man.'' The very unclubbable senator is Oklahoma's Tom Coburn, 57, a freshman Republican whose motto could be: ``Niceness is overrated.'' Coburn is the most dangerous creature that can come to the Senate, someone simply uninterested in being popular. When Speaker Dennis Hastert defends earmarks -- spending dictated by individual legislators for specific projects -- by saying that a member of Congress knows best where a stoplight ought to be placed, Coburn,...

Sen. McCain and I are serious about getting spending under control. John McCain and I recently delivered a letter to our colleagues announcing our intention to challenge every individual earmark on the floor of the Senate. Many senators, staff and reporters have asked if we are serious. The answer is yes. I am convinced that forcing hundreds or, if necessary, thousands of votes to strike individual earmarks is the only way to produce meaningful results for American taxpayers. Bringing the Senate to a standstill for as long as it takes would be a small price to pay for shutting down...