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Capitol Hill interns might miss out this summer on a famed lecture from Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn on the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases -- all because of a dispute over who will pay for pizza. The Senate Ethics Committee is requiring that Coburn, a Republican, buy the pizza for the 150 to 300 interns -- rather than have outside groups that have previously helped sponsor the event foot the bill

Sen. Tom Coburn, who is also a medical doctor, is calling for an outright ban on the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products. "What we should be doing is banning tobacco," the Oklahoma Republican declared on the Senate floor during a debate on a tobacco regulation bill. "Nobody up here has the courage to do that. It is a big business. There are millions of Americans who are addicted to nicotine." The battle against tobacco use has been ongoing. Earlier this year Congress passed legislation that included an increase in the federal tax on cigarettes of more than 60...

Earlier today, the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions fell short on passing an amendment offered by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) that would have placed medical marijuana under the same restrictions that the Senate is attempting to place on tobacco through the FDA. In a release from Americans for Limited Government, President Bill Wilson said the following: “This vote proves out and out that Senate Democrats are not concerned about health at all. Both tobacco and marijuana are weeds, both are smoked, both are carcinogenic, and yet the Senate Committee on Health has seen fit to...

Text I copied from Thomas.loc.gov on the Coburn Amendment listed as S5383-5384. They only give you a temporary URL at Thomas for the text. TEXT OF AMENDMENT AS SUBMITTED: CR S5383-5384 Here's S5383. I guess CR means Congressional Record. SA 1068. Mr. COBURN proposed an amendment to the bill H.R. 627, to amend the Truth in Lending Act to establish fair and transparent practices relating to the extension of credit under an open end consumer credit plan, and for other purposes; as follows: At the appropriate place in the bill, insert the following: SEC. __. PROTECTING AMERICANS FROM VIOLENT CRIME....

Washington—In what could only be defined as the first real legislation designed to keep liberals out of National Parks, Republicans have brought a victory for the National Rifle Association and its proponents. The amendment, added to the Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights, was signed by President Obama, and deviously added by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK. The move to add the amendment was described by Coburn “as a typical Democrat tactic used against them.” Coburn also said that the amendment was provided “to protect conservatives’ hygiene from funky liberals.”

POINT OF VIEW Guns in national parks In 1999, a woman and two teenagers visiting Yosemite National Park were brutally murdered at gunpoint. That same year, park ranger Steve Makuakane-Jarrell, a father of three, was shot to death in Hawaii’s Honokohau-National Historical Park. These are just two of the many tragic crimes that have claimed the lives of innocent national park visitors since the possession of loaded weapons was banned in the national parks. How have law-abiding Americans been stripped of their Second Amendment right to bear arms and left unable to protect themselves and their families in national parks...

I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee, A place where even squares can have a ball We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse, And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all We don't make a party out of lovin'; We like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo; We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy, Like the hippies out in San Francisco do. And I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee, A place where even squares can have a ball. We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse, And white lightnin's still the biggest...

The Republicans, step by step, became the big government politicians they once decried the Democrats for being. This abandonment of the most basic conservative values made it easy to support bailout bills and bridges to nowhere. However, there was one man who held on to his beliefs during this time. That man is Tom Coburn. He was a member of the Republican Revolution. He, along with other Republicans, pledged to limit his terms in the Congress. While others reneged on that pledge, Coburn held fast to his word.

The Republicans were taken to the woodshed last night and there is a very good reason why. For those still looking for an explanation, you can find it in the words of Ronald Wilson Reagan: A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers. Following the Republican Revolution of 1994, the Republican Party started a journey which lead them away from the ideals that Reagan preached, ideals like "fiscal integrity and sound money and above all for an end...

Facing several angry constituents at a town hall meeting, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn defended his vote for the economic rescue plan by saying Monday it was critical to restart the country’s flow of credit. Advertisement Failure to pass the $700 billion bailout could have had dire consequences, Coburn said, predicting unemployment rates would have skyrocketed without the move. "I would vote that way again and again because the innocent in our society shouldn’t be paying for all these mistakes,” said Coburn, R-Muskogee. Those who disagreed with Coburn’s vote said they are concerned the Wall Street bailout is an unacceptable federal...

One of the BEST 10 min speeches I have seen on the floor of the U.S. Senate in YEARS !! Tom Coburn GETS IT FOLKS !! If anyone has a better quality video of this speech to post please do so ! This is a speech that BOTH McCain and Obama need to hear !! It is exactly what WE THE POEPLE would be saying if we had a camera and mic ! FReegards, David

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZel-Hxz-VQ ICYMI -- One of the BEST 10min speeches I have heared from the floor of the U.S. Senate in a very long time !! This speech was given following a hilarious dialogue between Sen Coburm and Sen Harry Reid !! Reid was getting all flustered because Sen. Coburn was objecting to a bunch of bills creating MORE government and NEW spending without debate..etc..etc..etc.. GO COBURN GO !!! I apologize for the poor quality of the video.. I had to record it from a handheld cam on a small TV to upload it to youtube...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., says Republican U.S. vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin deserves credit for sinking Alaska's infamous "bridge to nowhere." Coburn, who first publicized the earmark from Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, as an example of pork-barrel congressional spending, said Palin was instrumental in scuttling the project as Alaska's governor, The Washington Times reported Saturday. "The bridge didn't get built because Sarah Palin had the guts to say it wasn't going to get built," Coburn told the newspaper. Palin has been under attack by Democratic critics for initially supporting Stevens' earmark for the bridge in...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Members of the U.S. Senate don't typically earn money from another job after they're elected to the august body because of concerns that they will be unduly influenced by customers or colleagues. Oklahoma pro-life Sen. Tom Coburn is an OBGYN and is coming under fire for helping his patients. When he is not in Washington, Coburn works at the Muskogee Regional Medical Center. The hospital changed from a public one to private ownership in April and, following that decision, Coburn has come under fire for working there. However, Coburn changed his practice and now delivers babies...

Frustrated by Tom Coburn's "unprecedented obstructionism," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid cobbled together a "Tomnibus" of 35 bills with "broad—virtually unanimous—bipartisan support" that Coburn had blocked. On Monday the Oklahoma Republican blocked them again.Unable to muster the 60 votes needed to overcome Coburn's opposition, Reid castigated the Republicans who had sided with the obstreperous obstetrician. "You go home and explain to...the next person you see in a wheelchair, 'I voted against you because Harry Reid was being a tyrannical guy in the Senate,'" the Nevada Democrat said. He also accused the Republicans of voting against victims of stroke, Lou Gehrig's...

August 01, 2008, 4:00 a.m. Cheers for Dr. ‘No’ By the Editors Some people, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says, “you cannot negotiate with.” Terrorists? No: Tom Coburn, the conservative Republican from Oklahoma. Coburn has driven Reid to such a state of consternation by blocking action on 35 bills creating 36 new government programs, and costing $10 billion over five years. Lowlights include $1.5 billion to subsidize the DC Metro, $12 million to fund a botanical greenhouse in Maryland, and $17 million to enact a prohibition on the import or export of monkeys and apes. Some of the new...

By Michelle Malkin  •  July 30, 2008 11:07 AM How afraid is the Democrat leadership of truly maverick conservative GOP Sen. Tom Coburn, who is waging war with Hapless Harry Reid over binge spending and secrecy? They’re so afraid of his effectiveness that they are trying to kneecap him with bogus Ethics Committee complaints about his practice of not charging for delivering babies at the Muskogee Regional Medical Center. Coburn continues to serve as an OB/GYN in Oklahoma.Jill Stanek read my mind: If Sen. Coburn were aborting babies for free instead of delivering them, he’d be getting awards instead of ethics...

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...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Barack Obama has been meeting secretly with heavy industry CEOs in Washington to discuss issues that he would face as president. On the campaign trail, Obama has been highly critical of corporate executives and promised them nothing but tougher regulation and higher taxes. But the unannounced, small evening sessions with them since he clinched the Democratic nomination have been non-confrontational and cordial. Obama scheduled the meetings without any hopes of winning the captains of industry over from Sen. John McCain, but to show them they would be able to do business with him in the White...

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared Thursday that negotiating with Sen. Tom Coburn was a waste of time as he laid out an unusual effort to pass a number of bills held up by the Oklahoma Republican. Reid, D-Nev., told reporters that senators were assembling a package of bills, from a number of committees, that Coburn has blocked. He did not identify any specific measure but said the bills had wide support from both Republicans and Democrats. "It is going to be an omnibus bill,'' Reid said. The package would include about 40 bills, he said, adding that...