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Coburn is sticking to his fiscally conservative principles, even after a twister killed at least 24 of his constituents On Tuesday morning, emergency responders began dealing with the aftermath of a tornado that killed at least 24 people in Moore, Okla., and injured at least 140 more. The White House has announced that "the administration and FEMA stand ready to provide all available assistance in response to the severe weather." However, one of the state's two Republican senators, Tom Coburn, wants to put a stipulation on that offer: No federal aid without corresponding federal budget cuts.

By the end of Tom Coburn's Morning Joe appearance today, a panel member could be heard, off-camera, whistling in astonishment. Not surprising, since the plain-talking Republican Senator from Oklahoma had just unloaded on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Coburn called Reid "dishonest" in his dealings with him, saying that Reid was "not truthful" and had "not kept his word." For good measure, Coburn added that Reid had been a "failure" as Majority Leader. View the video here.

Democratic leaders are wooing staunchly pro-gun candidates to run in pivotal Senate races at the same time they are discussing a strategy for bringing gun control legislation back up for debate. The two-pronged effort has prompted Republicans to accuse the Senate Democratic leadership of hypocrisy, but Democrats say it is simply smart politics. The question is whether two of the Democrats’ most promising potential candidates in Montana and South Dakota will pay a price for the leadership’s political maneuverings in Washington. Or will recruiting candidates who do not support President Obama’s gun control agenda have any effect on Democratic fundraising...

Most of you will already know that I am a supporter of Senator Tom Coburn. That doesn't mean I support everything decision he has made during his time in Congress, but I do support his efforts to do the right thing for his constituents, those of us who live in the great state of Oklahoma. He first came to Congress in 1994 and promised to term limit himself in that body. He kept that promise. He was elected to the United States Senate in 2004 and promised to limit himself to two terms. He has already announced that he will...

The Republican plan to block debate on Senate Bill 649, which requires background checks on almost all gun purchases and transfers, failed spectacularly Thursday morning when sixteen Republican Senators joined almost all of the Democrats to vote in favor opening debate on the bill. Among those voting to defeat the filibuster were 9 Democrats with “A” ratings from the National Rifle Association, and 12 A-rated Republicans (out of 16 Republican “ayes”). Two Democrats, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK), joined the majority of Republican Senators who tried to prevent debate, much less a vote, on the bill....

(CNN) – A key player in negotiations over potential gun control legislation said on Tuesday a planned GOP filibuster of the bill won’t occur if Democrats allow Republicans to bring amendments up for a vote. Sen. Tom Coburn, speaking on CNN’s “Erin Burnett Outfront,” said a filibuster that’s been promised by more than a dozen fellow Republicans would prevent Americans from seeing where their elected officials stand on the issue. “It’s not going to be filibustered,” Coburn said, adding that the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid needs to offer "an open amendment process" in order for Republicans to agree to...

A little known pro-gun lobby that’s well to the right of the National Rifle Association has complicated efforts to reach a solution on gun control legislation, top Democrats have said in recent days. The Gun Owners of America has been around for decades, operating mostly in obscurity, dwarfed by the lobbying and fundraising prowess of the NRA. The group’s big gripe is that the NRA is too squishy and willing to compromise, and its recent efforts to scuttle gun control legislation appear to be scaring away Republicans amenable to background checks. The results have frustrated Democrats trying to strike a...

On Tuesday, NBC News alleged that the NRA would not fight a federal universal background check bill provided that the UBC bill omits language that calls for a national gun registry. Kaise Hunt, a political reporter for NBC News wrote: Senators negotiating a bill mandating background checks for all gun buyers are privately expecting the National Rifle Association not to fight the measure — provided the legislation does not require private gun sellers to maintain records of the checks, NBC News has learned. If that requirement is met and key Republican negotiator Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma signs on, the...

Gun talks hit a snag in Senate over universal background checks By Alexander Bolton - 03/05/13 The centerpiece of President Obama’s gun violence agenda is in peril amid a deadlock among Senate negotiators over how to implement and enforce a proposal requiring background checks for private gun sales. With time running out for talks, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) remains optimistic about reaching an agreement. But gun control proponents have grown skeptical about whether Schumer’s main Republican counterpart, Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.), is acting in good faith. Schumer argues — and gun control groups agree — that records must be kept...

Republicans, and many Democrats, are upset by the prospect of so-called sequestration cuts to the nation's defense budget. Pentagon chief Leon Panetta is so alarmed that the day before the Senate took up what became the "fiscal cliff" agreement, he called a key Republican lawmaker, Sen. Lindsey Graham, to express deep concern that the cuts might go into effect. As it turned out, Congress put them off for two months. Sequestration would force the government to reduce discretionary spending by about $1.2 trillion over the next decade. Roughly half of that, or $600 billion, would come from defense --...

Republican Sen. Tom Coburn has released a breakdown of how much the federal government forgoes in tax revenue due to various credits and deductions that benefit everything from NASCAR owners to gamblers. It's a fairly comprehensive analysis that should get bipartisan support, but one of the categories that Sen. Coburn targets to raise taxes from may be surprising: "the rich." Coburn highlights $100 billion in tax revenue that could be raised over the next ten years by ending some of these deductions only on millionaire households. Over the 2006-2009 time period, Coburn notes, millionaires deducted over $20 billion in gambling...

Senator Tom Coburn, R-OK, has long been a voice of reason in the United States Senate. He was the same voice of reason in the House of Representatives, causing Speaker Newt Gingrich major headaches by not going along to get along. He has long been advocating a balanced approach to reducing the national debt and the deficit and it is worth mentioning that Coburn's approach is much more balanced than the proposals President Obama and the liberal Democrats have put forth. Coburn is called Dr. No in the Senate for a reason. The number of bills he has blocked because...

For the first time in more than three weeks, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met face-to-face today at the White House to talk about avoiding the fiscal cliff. … The White House afternoon talks, conducted without cameras or any announcement until they were over, came as some Republicans were showing more flexibility about approving higher tax rates for the wealthy, one of the president’s demands to keep the country from the so-called fiscal cliff—a mixture of across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts that many economists say would send the country back into recession. “Let’s face it. He does...

Senator says nuts to SDSU 'RoboSquirrel' study - The 'Robosquirrel' developed by San Diego State and UC Davis can move its tail to mimic the behavior of a real animal. UC Davis A San Diego State University research project involving robotic squirrels has been placed on Sen. Tom Coburn's annual list of wasteful government spending, a move the campus says is unfair and misleading. Coburn, R-Okla., issued the list last week, criticizing everything from the use of food stamps to purchase fast food to a subsidy for a struggling ferry business in Alaska. The list also is critical of the...

Coburn: Sequestration doesn’t have to hurt if we just cut the waste, duplication and ridiculous out of the Pentagon. CBS News ran this report tonight and I was literally stunned at some of the “ridiculous” Coburn has found in wasteful spending in the Pentagon: Sequestration could be Pentagon pork killer

Video captures tea party activist confronting Coburn at public event Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has promised constituents he would contact Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona to be briefed on details of the sheriff’s law enforcement investigation into Barack Obama’s presidential eligibility. In a video posted on YouTube.com, tea-party activist Miki Booth is seen at a public appearance confronting the senator about a letter she wrote to him. To date, however, Arpaio has received no contact from Coburn or his office. In a second press conference held in Phoenix July 17, Mike Zullo, lead investigator in Arpaio’s Cold Case...

This video explains EVERYTHING wrong with media and Liberalism today. Jonathan Capehart, a writer for the Washington Post, appears on MSNBC, and quotes the TEAParty's goal to fix Washington, D.C., and especially the "abandonment of the Constitution." Then the fool asks Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) how and when that "abandonment" has happened. Coburn explains and Capehart cuts in and says he isn't familiar with Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. Video here.Photo: Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post Writer - Symbol of all that is wrong with Liberalism JONATHAN CAPEHART: Sen. Coburn, it’s Jonathan Capehart. I want to bring you back...

What does it take to win a Pulitzer Prize or write editorials for the Washington Post? Hard to say [though being a liberal certainly helps], but familiarity with the basic constitutional principles upon which our country was founded is apparently not required. On today's Morning Joe, Pulitzer Prize winner and Washington Post editorialist Jonathan Capehart apologized to Senator Tom Coburn for being unfamiliar with Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, the Enumerated Powers clause. As you'll see from the clip, Capehart's befuddlement regarding the clause seemed to extend beyond the specific article number to the very principle that it...

Senator Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is "in a pickle" arguing against the president's health care bill because he passed a similar version in Massachusetts. "He prescribed this. This was his bill," Schumer said on "Face the Nation." He noted Republicans "have ads saying it's a tax increase. Are they going to say, 'Mitt Romney had the biggest tax increase in Massachusetts?'" "Mitt Romney is in a total pickle here," Schumer said, arguing that the Republican Party is in a tough position: As polls suggest the economy is the top priority of voters, he...

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a staunch fiscal conservative and Tea Party favorite, said he is certain that the United States will face another credit downgrade. "S&P's downgrade on us was right, matter of fact we're going to get another downgrade. I can tell you right now, you can have a great legal case for suing the rating agencies for not downgrading us again because we have not demonstrated the political will to solve the problems," said Coburn on CBS's midweek show "Face to Face," posted online Wednesday. The Oklahoma senator told CBS that he has "no doubt" that there will...

Yesterday on Laura IngrahamÂ’s radio show, she asked Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell about a recent Roll Call article that framed me as one of the loud leaders of conservatives opposed to Mitch McConnell. The Senator from Kentucky responded that he had never heard of me and I did not have an audience. That sounds a bit like the child, when asked if he ate the cookie, replying that he had not and besides it did not taste good. If heÂ’d never heard of me, how can he comment on my audience? If he states plainly I have no audience,...

Elections are about choices. This November, the most important choice facing the American people will be whether we will demand a solution and avert a debt crisis or whether we will continue to accept the status quo and hope for the best. I'm confident the vast majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle want a solution. The next choice, then, is deciding who is best qualified to enact a solution. In life, and especially politics, our choices are seldom perfect and often difficult. But it is critically important to make a choice and support the person who is...

Keep going, doc. I think you’re on to something: U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) today released a new oversight report, “Wastebook 2011″ that highlights over $6.5 billion in examples of some of the most egregious ways your taxpayer dollars were wasted. This report details 100 of the countless unnecessary, duplicative and low-priority projects spread throughout the federal government. “Video games, robot dragons, Christmas trees, and magic museums. This is not a Christmas wish list, these are just some of the ways the federal government spent your tax dollars. Over the past 12 months, politicians argued, debated and lamented about...

Silver doesn’t quite go so far as to say that it makes a brokered convention or a late-breaking establishment candidate likely, but I’m willing to go that far. There’s just no way the Republican establishment lets Gingrich become their nominee. As Andrew Sullivan pointed out today, you’re already seeing the anti-Gingrich mobilization among conservative thought leaders: Here’s George Will, Charles Krauthammer, David Brooks, Ross Douthat, Tom Coburn and Ann Coulter, just for starters. There’s this Politico story about all the Washington Republicans who hate Gingrich. Now, I think it’s more likely that this mobilization leads to a Romney win then...

If you told me that somebody had published a comprehensive report on wasteful government policies which dole out billions of dollars to the wealthiest individuals in the country, one of the last people I’d expect to find as the author would be Senator Tom Coburn.(R-OK) But that’s precisely what unfolded when I found that the senator had borrowed a tag line from 1970s television programming and released, “Subsidies of the Rich and Famous.� U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) today released a new report “Subsidies of the Rich and Famous” illustrating how, under the current tax code, the federal government...

Navy Times is reporting that Senator Tom Coburn (R) has a plan to cut DOD by spending by $43 billion. His plan will force retirees off TRICARE Prime (HMO) and into TRICARE Standard (PPO). Then his plan is to raise the fees for standard so high (total out of pocket cost $7,500 annually) "working age" retirees (under 65) will opt out for mythical cheaper medical insurance from some as of yet unidentified employer. While I admit TRICARE Prime is cheap none of Coburn's figures add in Dental, separate plans under TRICARE. As a retiree my wife and I pay out...

Sen. Tom Coburn's deficit-reduction plan Details of Sen. Tom Coburn's $9 trillion plan to balance the budget NewsOK Related Articles Sen. Tom Coburn's plan: Would save about $9 trillion over 10 years, including $3 trillion from entitlements, $3 trillion from government departments and agencies, $1 trillion from defense, $1 trillion from ending or modifying tax breaks and deductions, and $1 trillion in interest on the debt. Would reduce the size of government by 25 percent over 10 years. Would balance the budget within 10 years. Read more: http://newsok.com/details-of-sen.-tom-coburns-9-trillion-plan-to-balance-the-budget/article/3586676#ixzz1SUBIXa8X

Late last week, it looked like Tom Coburn might rejoin the Gang of Six in the Senate, which restarted their efforts to find a compromise on the budget as the debt-ceiling limit debate rages. Today, however, Coburn will become a Gang of One by releasing his own plan to reduce the deficit by twice the amount of the Paul Ryan plan. Unlike Ryan, Coburn plans on increasing federal revenues, but through reform of the tax code: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said Sunday the federal government can save $1 trillion though tax reform, a proposal that will put him at odds...

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said Sunday that fellow GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell's proposal to raise the debt limit was "a great political plan" but that it didn't solve the nation's debt crisis - and so he was not likely to vote for it. In an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," Coburn claimed he no longer cared about the politics of the debate, and said that "I am only going to support something that actually solves the problem." "I haven't firmly decided, but I am unlikely to support it at this time," Coburn said, of McConnell's plan, which would allow...

Last month, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I., Conn.) voted against the House Republican budget authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), which includes significant reforms to Medicare. After doing so, the former Democrat says, he could not in good conscience do nothing, as that would signal an endorsement of the status quo, which when it comes to Medicare, as well as the national debt, is simply unsustainable. Indeed, the program’s own trustees admit as much. So Lieberman took to the pages of the Washington Post to offer his own plan to preserve Medicare for future generations. Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.)...

Oklahoma senator hopes is putting the finishing touches on his plan to reduce the federal deficit by $9 trillion. He expects to release it this week. WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, who has been working on a deficit-reduction plan worth $9 trillion over 10 years, said he hopes to release the blueprint late this week. That timetable may slip since the scope of the plan requires so many calculations (mathematical, not political). Coburn, R-Muskogee, and his staff have been working on the plan since the senator dropped out of the bipartisan Gang of Six deficit reduction talks in May....

The Norquist–Coburn Feud ReignitesAre tax subsidies the same as tax cuts, or are they just subsidies? The feud between Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) and tax lobbyist Grover Norquist came to a head (again) this week as Republicans girded themselves for a potential deal on the debt ceiling. Sparks flew Tuesday when Coburn forced a cloture vote on an amendment to eliminate $6 billion in ethanol tax subsidies. Ethanol, however, was hardly the issue at stake. GOP leaders have made it clear that Republicans will not support a deal to raise the debt ceiling if it includes tax increases. But...

Several Senate Republicans are angry at anti-tax activist Grover Norquist’s position on a major ethanol vote, creating a rift between one of Washington’s most influential conservatives and a Republican Party that has marched largely in lock step with his campaign tax pledges over the years. “What Grover Norquist has just done is blown his pledge wide open,” Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) told POLITICO.

Coburn on Grover Norquist: ‘Old news..doesn’t matter what he says’ Coburn talks with reporters before their caucus luncheon on Capitol Hill Tuesday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) An intra-GOP feud played out in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

The 18 Senators Who Approve Breaking The Internet To Protect Hollywood from the not-cool dept Last fall, we noted that the Senate Judiciary Committee had unanimously voted to approve COICA, a bill for censoring the internet as a favor to the entertainment industry. Thankfully, Senator Ron Wyden stepped up and blocked COICA from progressing. This year, COICA has been replaced by the PROTECT IP Act, which fixes some of the problems of COICA, but introduces significant other problems as well. A wide cross section of people who actually understand technology and innovation have come out against PROTECT IP as written...

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), one of the fiercest Second Amendment defenders on Capitol Hill, supports another look at gun laws designed to block firearm sales to the mentally ill, his office said Thursday. Congress passed such a law in 2007, following the shooting deaths of 32 students and teachers at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Yet the suspect in this month's Arizona shooting reportedly had little trouble buying a handgun in November, even despite earlier concerns about disturbing behavior and habitual drug use. The tragic episode — in which a federal judge was killed and a congresswoman critically injured — has...

Video..Good information http://www.c/coburn-on-budget-negotiations-send-me-some-senators-with-gonads/

Coburn, Toomey: Drop the Policy Riders April 8, 2011 1:03 P.M. By Daniel Foster Here’s Senator Toomey: “I’d like to defund Planned Parenthood, but I understand that Republicans don’t have complete control of the elected government,” Toomey said on MSNBC. “I think what we should do is cut spending as much as we can, get the policy changes that we can, but move on, because there are other, bigger battles that we are fighting.” And here’s Senator Coburn: COBURN: The one thing I’ve learned in my years here is there’s one reason to talk about something, if you want to...

(CNSNews.com) - Two Republican senators on Friday introduced a bill to stop taxpayer subsidies to public radio and television. Since 2001, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has received nearly $4 billion in taxpayer money for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said with the nation on the brink of bankruptcy, some decisions to cut spending are difficult -- but not this one: "Americans struggling to make ends meet shouldn’t be forced to fund public broadcasting when there are already thousands of choices for educational and entertainment programming on...

Earlier this week, Tom Coburn quit the Gang of Six negotiations in the Senate, saying that the bipartisan working group on the budget wanted to go in a substantially different direction than Coburn would travel. Given that context, Coburn’s essay in today’s Washington Post prompts a question — just where exactly did the Gang of Six want to go? Coburn argues in his article that conservatives are going to have to swallow some tax hikes to get the spending cuts they want (via OTB):

A key senator has asked the Social Security Administration to investigate how people who live their lives role-playing as “adult babies” are able to get taxpayer-funded disability payments — after one of them was featured on a recent reality TV episode wearing diapers, feeding from a bottle and using an adult-sized crib he built. Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican and the Senate’s top waste-watcher, asked the agency’s inspector general to look into 30-year-old Stanley Thornton Jr. and his roommate, Sandra Dias, who acts as his “mother,” saying it’s not clear why they are collecting Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits instead...

A key senator has asked the Social Security Administration to investigate how people who live their lives role-playing as “adult babies” are able to get taxpayer-funded disability payments — after one of them was featured on a recent reality TV episode wearing diapers, feeding from a bottle and using an adult-sized crib he built. Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican and the Senate’s top waste-watcher, asked the agency’s inspector general to look into 30-year-old Stanley Thornton Jr. and his roommate, Sandra Dias, who acts as his “mother,” saying it’s not clear why they are collecting Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits instead...

Remember what Alan Simpson said after Obama’s disastrous, demagogic, compromise-destroying attack on Paul Ryan a few weeks ago? He knew he’d just seen any chance of a deal between the Republican and Democratic leaderships go up in smoke. Quote: “Just pray for the Gang of Six,” he said. “You guys your age, keep praying.” What happens if the Gang of Six fails? Mr. Simpson was asked. “Guys like you will be picking grit with the chickens when you are 65,” he replied. Start boning up on grit-picking, my friends:

Call it the party of one? After taking a “sabbatical” from the “gang of six” talks on deficit reduction, Sen. Tom Coburn is writing his own budget blueprint that will aggressively tackle entitlements. “I’m working hard on my plan,” the Oklahoma Republican said Thursday, adding that he and his staff have been working on it for about six days — before he walked out on the bipartisan group of Senators. “I want everybody to shoot at it and tell me why it won’t work,” Coburn said. He added that he wouldn’t be concerned if others join the gang of six...

I want to call this a palate cleanser, but it’s so acidic — especially his memory of the sign in Newt’s office on the Hill — that it’s more likely to burn your tongue. Can’t use it as evidence of the upswell in conservative anger towards Newt after his MTP appearance either, I’m afraid: Coburn is a Gingrich critic of loooongstanding, which makes this less of a standard “what happened to Newt?� lament than a bitter “I told you so.� To follow up on an earlier analogy, it’s as if Coburn jumped into the ring, pushed Drago aside, and started...

On the other hand, watch the clip below. If this guy’s not “disabled,� who is? “Given that Mr. Thornton is able to determine what is appropriate attire and actions in public, drive himself to complete errands, design and custom-make baby furniture to support a 350-pound adult and run an Internet support group, it is possible that he has been improperly collecting disability benefits for a period of time,” Mr. Coburn wrote in a letter Monday to Inspector General Patrick P. O’Carroll Jr…In an email response to The Washington Times, Mr. Thornton threatened to kill himself if his Social Security payments...

Excellent speech on Senate floor by Senator Coburn on oil and gas prices and lack of knowledge by our Congress. He also addresses government regulation and rips the Obama administration. VIDEO 10:30 minutes H/T to blueyon for the heads up.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), arguably the most prominent fiscal conservative in the Senate, is declaring his independence from one of the country's leading anti-tax groups, Americans for Tax Reform - and its fiery founder, Grover Norquist.

Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn blasted the Education Department Wednesday for what he called “very significant inappropriate behavior in tipping hedge funds on short selling private education” and called on a key Senate panel to investigate the matter. Coburn was referring to documents released last week by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a watchdog group that has called for federal authorities to investigate market manipulation by famous Wall Street short-seller Steven Eisman. Coburn said the charges even could result in jail time for Education Department officials. “Utilization of facts in the Department of Education in advantaging investors...

What we have been covering all week on the radio show has finally burst into the view of the MSM. Even CNN has now figured out that the debate over spending within the House GOP caucus is hugely important. The vast class of House freshmen know that if they budget cuts delivered in the final CR are not more than $100 billion they will be either primaried in less than 20 months or flogged with "broken promise" charges in their campaign for re-election in districts newly redrawn because of the census. My new Townhall.com column deals with the specifics, but...